Sellers solicitor holding things up

kitla

My son is buying his first home, a flat in Birmingham. The process began end of October but is still being held up by the sellers solicitor. He accepts that the extra searches re leases, cladding safety etc for flats takes a bit longer but we feel this is getting ridiculous. The latest feedback from his solicitor is that the sellers solicitor hasnt completed anything! My sons mortgage offer will expire in June & will then massively go up. Apart from threatening to pull out, (which he doesnt want) is there anything that can be done to speed things up? does he have any rights to complain that might help?

user1977

Isn't his own solicitor providing any advice?

kitla

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81936630#Comment_81936630

They're pretty useless tbh, but its not them thats holding things up. The estate agent is doing their best & keeping in touch with my son. And I've just found out that his mortgage offer expires in May not june as thought so more urgent now

Neil49

The estate agent should get onto the sellers solicitors to find out what is causing the delay asap and they need to keep on hounding them every few days given the urgency of the situation.

We are just at the end of the process of selling a flat and it has taken months to get it sorted. I have to say that if the sellers solicitors haven't done anything so far then there is little chance of getting it sorted by May. There are a lot of processes to get through before you can exchange contracts and unless the solicitors really treat every stage as a matter of urgency then you won't be able to finalise this in time.

You need to act today!

m0bov

The agent should be chasing this. Be honest and tell them you need to be exchanging next month.

MyRealNameToo

No one can say with certainty what's actually going on, it could be their solicitor is perfectly fine and its the seller themselves that are the problem but solicitors have broad shoulders and generally are professional enough to shoulder the blame rather than finger pointing at their client or similar.

Ultimately walking away, reducing the offer or incentivising a quicker sale are really your only option and they only actually work if you are prepared to follow through else they may call your bluff and find that they can ignore all future threats if you dont follow on.

eddddy

kitla said

The latest feedback from his solicitor is that the sellers solicitor hasnt completed anything!

It's possible that you've misunderstood what your son's solicitor means.

The seller's solicitor won't have the required information. He / she will be asking other organisations to provide the information.

For example, it's very likely that the seller's solicitor is asking the seller's freeholder and/or management company for information, and the freeholder and/or management company haven't replied yet.

kitla said

is there anything that can be done to speed things up?

Yes probably - perhaps something like this…

• Your son should ask his solicitor for a list of the information he / she is waiting for

• Your son should then contact the seller (either directly or via the estate agent) and say "My solicitor is waiting for a, b and c etc from your solicitor"

• And your son should say to the seller "Please contact your solicitor to ask them the status of a, b and c"

• And your son should also say to the seller "If your solicitor tells you that he / she is waiting for replies from the freeholder and/or management company, you should phone the freeholder and/or management company to find out what the delay is, when they expect to have a reply, and generally encourage them to hurry up."

Bigphil1474

We had issues with our own solicitor holding things up when we moved in 2024. We ended up with a chain of comms to get things moved along. Our vendor contacted their EA, their EA contacted our EA who contacted us, we contacted the solicitor to sort stuff out, then relayed stuff back the other way. e.g. they kept asking for copies of planning docs for the extensions, which we knew we had as the solicitor had sent us copies, plus I'd seen them as I had access at work. Our solicitor asked for them 3 times and they were provided 3 times. Bit odd. We went from nothing seeming to happen for about 6 weeks, to agreeing an exchange and completion date within a week.

EssexHebridean

Who is the management company? As said, they are frequently culprits on leasehold transactions, and some are worse than others!

I would suggest your son asks his solicitor to contact the seller's solicitor and then feed back to him (son) exactly where the hold up is. Eddddy's suggestions of conversations that could happen with the sellers if he has direct contact are also excellent.

kitla

Thankyou for the replies, they pretty much reinforce what we've been suggesting to my son. He is meeting with the estate agent & we've asked him to really push them to find out what the hold up is. He did send a multiple question request to his solicitor but if they dont have an answer they just ignore the question. Unfortunately most of the recommended conveyance solicitors dont deal with blocks of flats now, so there wasnt much choice & he took a chance on this one 🙄To put a spanner in the works he's been told the building management has changed or is changing. If it looks hopeless nearer the time, is it worth asking the bank for an extension? do they ever do that sort of thing or is it all impersonal & automated now?

saajan_12

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81938407#Comment_81938407

I would focus questions on specifics rather than chasing generally - what exact documents / queries are pending, who are they expecting a response from, and when were each of those requests sent? Then you can follow up with the seller to ask their solicitor or their management co where relevant.

Re extensions, given the current markets I think its going to be unlikely regardless of whether a person or computer looks at it - with rates going up, its not in the bank's interest to honour a lower rate beyond what they agreed to hold it for.