4 months and still waiting - FTB, No chain, Flat empty for a year

pinkandblue1

Hi there,

I was hoping for some advice on whether there’s anything we can do to speed up this process, or if we’re at a stalemate.

We’re first-time buyers with no chain and are purchasing a flat that’s been empty for a year. We started the process in September and have been waiting for replies to enquiries since 18th November. Unfortunately, our solicitor only works a couple of hours a day, frequently takes PTO, and responds very slowly—if at all.

We were told the flat management pack was ordered on 29th October, but on 28th November we received a call saying it had only just been ordered then (essentially, they lied to us). The pack finally arrived just before Christmas, but we then discovered another management pack needs to be ordered from the landlord’s agent, as they have their own.

Overall, we’re feeling quite disheartened. As first-time buyers, we’ve had no real guidance apart from an online portal, which has been stuck at 28% completion for months. The only contact we receive is when they send us documents, often without explanation - leaving us confused and unsupported. When we ask for clarification, the solicitor seems perplexed that we don’t understand.

With no exchange date in sight, we assume it’s now down to the seller’s solicitors to answer the enquiries. Is it normal for this to take seven weeks? I called the landline for the office yesterday, as our solicitor hasn't been online since Friday, and was told they were still chasing for them and hoped to have the answers by the end of the day. This, of course, didn’t happen.

Do you have any advice on what we can do—if anything?

Thanks so much!

FlorayG

You're not using PCS Legal are you? This sounds very much like my experience with them.
If you are using an internet conveyancer they can be like this because they take on more work than they can cope with

pinkandblue1

FlorayG said:

You're not using PCS Legal are you? This sounds very much like my experience with them.
If you are using an internet conveyancer they can be like this because they take on more work than they can cope with

No we are not using them but sorry you experienced the same! Yep a lot of their reviews (which they reply to in SECONDS!!) say what you've said. Wish we read them beforehand 

FlorayG

The bad news- they were SO BAD that I actually sacked them, reported them to ombudsman and went to a local solicitor after 3 months. He started again from the beginning and I had possession in 8 weeks. I got my money back from PCS

Bigphil1474

If it's any consolation, we had a 3 buyer chain and it took from March to August for us to complete - 5 months. The last few bits were sorted pretty quickly though, and we went from seemingly nowhere to agreed dates in a matter of a few days. Do you have any contact with the vendors? We ended up communicating between each other to get an exchange and completion date agreed as we were all a bit fed up. Worked a treat. Bear in mind we've had Christmas, so that would slow you down. Could you complain to the solicitors employer?