Totally stuck house sale

mat1964

So it turns out this problem is mainly with my solicitor who is just not responding to questions.  I have tried escalating, they just don’t care.  Another set of questions came in today (estate agent told me).  I tried to contact the solicitor to see if they were going to respond as the answers were not difficult but I just couldn’t get hold of them, and surprise surprise they have gone home now and not done anything.

RAS

The firm will have details of their complaints process on their website. 

You may want to use it.

But also understand that every time a new batch of queries come in they are probably added to the previous ones for the same property. And the solicitor will deal with the whole lot for each property in turn. That tends to be the way bulk processors manage cases and billing.

And every time they read an email from you etc, you get billed.

ian1246

Is this a local firm or one of the cheap online firms? Ultimately you get the service you pay for. If its local I'd be going to their office and refusing to move until I've spoken to someone in a position of authority. This sale collapsing will cost you £1000's.

mat1964

ian1246 said:

Is this a local firm or one of the cheap online firms? Ultimately you get the service you pay for. If it's local I'd be going to their office and refusing to move until I've spoken to someone in a position of authority. This sale collapsing will cost you £1000's.

It's a local firm and I have been there and told them my concerns.  They are not cheap and yes it will cost us over £6k if the sale collapses.

The latest is that the buyers solicitors submitted yet more questions last week which have been answered.  They still refuse to commit to any exchange date let alone completion but have said they will be in a position to discuss this 'soon'.  It does appear they are stalling but we don't know why. I think the sellers of the property we are buying are going to give an ultimatum if there is no exchange next 2 weeks.

DE_612183

mat1964 said:

ian1246 said:

Is this a local firm or one of the cheap online firms? Ultimately you get the service you pay for. If it's local I'd be going to their office and refusing to move until I've spoken to someone in a position of authority. This sale collapsing will cost you £1000's.

It's a local firm and I have been there and told them my concerns.  They are not cheap and yes it will cost us over £6k if the sale collapses.

The latest is that the buyers solicitors submitted yet more questions last week which have been answered.  They still refuse to commit to any exchange date let alone completion but have said they will be in a position to discuss this 'soon'.  It does appear they are stalling but we don't know why. I think the sellers of the property we are buying are going to give an ultimatum if there is no exchange next 2 weeks.

That's fine - just pass on the ultimatum.

EssexHebridean

Go back to the original Terms of Retainer document you were given at the start of the transaction - in there somewhere will be the process for escalation - usually to the “Supervising Partner” - you need to follow that route, explaining calmly and clearly your concerns - and including the comments made to you on the phone which are unprofessional at best. 

Hopefully that will kick the firm into doing something. 

mat1964

so the latest is the buyers solicitor has gone on holiday for 2 weeks, without informing anyone (my solicitors found out via her out of office message).  In the meantime, our solicitor has said "the buyer’s conveyancer keeps feeding us incorrect information".  So now the estate agents are trying to see if this has to wait until the solicitor returns as it's not a small firm, but it appears so and the solicitors are blaming each other for the delays.

Chief_of_Staffy

mat1964 said:

... the solicitors are blaming each other for the delays.

That's probably the only thing they are correct on. By the sound of it, both sets are incompetent and neither should have jobs.

EssexHebridean

mat1964 said:

so the latest is the buyers solicitor has gone on holiday for 2 weeks, without informing anyone (my solicitors found out via her out of office message).  In the meantime, our solicitor has said "the buyer’s conveyancer keeps feeding us incorrect information".  So now the estate agents are trying to see if this has to wait until the solicitor returns as it's not a small firm, but it appears so and the solicitors are blaming each other for the delays.

See my post above yours. This needs escalation, and you now have a further ground to add to that as well with the holiday thing. Taking holiday is absolutely fine - failing to put anything in place to cover current transactions is not. 

Don't bother with the agents now - they can't escalate this (and probably won't get past the switchboard), you can.

sheramber

EssexHebridean said:

mat1964 said:

so the latest is the buyers solicitor has gone on holiday for 2 weeks, without informing anyone (my solicitors found out via her out of office message).  In the meantime, our solicitor has said "the buyer’s conveyancer keeps feeding us incorrect information".  So now the estate agents are trying to see if this has to wait until the solicitor returns as it's not a small firm, but it appears so and the solicitors are blaming each other for the delays.

See my post above yours. This needs escalation, and you now have a further ground to add to that as well with the holiday thing. Taking holiday is absolutely fine - failing to put anything in place to cover current transactions is not. 

Don't bother with the agents now - they can't escalate this (and probably won't get past the switchboard), you can.

It is not the OP’s solicitor that has gone on holiday. It is his buyer’s solicitor.

I don’t think the OP will get past the switchboard there. He is not their client.