any one used countrywide property lawyers

julie8314dave

Hi to every one out there, just wondering if any one has used countrywide propery lawyers in Northampton before for buying or selling.
My problem is that i have sold my house to a freind of mine, she has completed on her house and is living with parents at the moment, my solicitor has completed everything on my side and has even sent the contracts through to countrywide, we are ready to exchange, we are then advised that there local authority searches have not been done yet, and my solicitor has not had any response from them, the reason we have been so quick on our side is that we are going into rented accomodation. because it is a freind of mine it is a very dodgy situation as i do not want to fall out with her, but when i ask if she can gee them up she saYS WHEN I GET A BIT OF TIME I WILL RING THEM. i thought maybe that she wanted to back out, so i asked her outright at work and she was mortified that i thought that she wanted to pull out. i do not know what to do in this instance as i do not want to loose my buyer, there are no estate agents involved either, but does anybody know if countrywide property lawyers are that good.
any help greatly appreciated.
julie xx

Jorgan_2

I saw the the words 'Countrywide Property Lawyers' & my first thought was Nooooooooooooooo, don't use them. I'm not surprised to to read your story, its almost a carbon copy of three clients who were using them last year.

In my experience its difficult to speak to the same person twice, the actual solicitor is almost mythical, you can speak to the minions but never the solicitor. Other people may have had different experiences.

Get your solicitor to chase the other solicitor & put pressure on from that side. Ask your friend if they have actually paid for the searches, this may well be the reason for the delay. Tell her you have seen a property you wish to rent, but the letting agent needs an idea on dates.

julie8314dave

Thanks Jorgan,
Thats what i expected to hear, my solicitor (another freind) has told me today that he is going to fax them and tell them that we are ready to exchange on friday, and try and force them into telling us where they are up to, my freind told me a couple of weeks ago that she had sent forms through to them and aalso a chq to pay for searches. she used them for the sale of her house, and she says they were ready before the others (chain of three) so not sure what to think now. our problem is that we are moving 50+ miles away to rented accomodation were we have found a lovely place and a great school, (these places do not come up that often) and the school will not let me put my little boys name down until they have a tenancy agreement from us and also the letting agency will not start referencing until we have exchanged contracts. not sure what to do now. could my solicitor take over her side of things and do it all him self (he knows my freind as well) or is that not the right way to go.
julie x

Jorgan_2

Your solicitor wouldn't be able to act for your friend, conflict of interests.

Have you explained to your friend the predicament you are in regarding the school? If not, explain to her in a calm manner what is going on. Another issue I can see is the signing of contracts, do you live close to the CPL office? If not they will no doubt post the contract to your friend, who would have to post it back to them. Thats the best part of a week to get the contract signed. Not what you want to hear, I know.

clutton_2

they do tend to be a "bucket shop" type of operation, and you rarely get to speak to THE solicitor. I am sure you friend will respond if you explain you are in danger of losing your children's schooling .......

b w

david29dpo

Avoid ANYTHING with countrywide in the name!

Billy_the_kid_4

I'm 12 weeks into a simple no chain sale and there is still no sign of being able to exchange contracts. It takes a week minimum for them to even forward anything on. They've just decided now to ask all sorts of daft questions on information they recieved two and a half weeks ago. It now looks like we have yet another long wait for them to respond. I'm now worrying that my buyer may pull from the deal from frustration..........

Take a look at the link below, I wish I'd found it 3 months ago.

www.ciao.co.uk/Countrywide_Property_Lawyers__5658256

Kaz64_2

sounds like I had a close shave then.... opted to go with Hubby's solicitor when offered the Countrywide one. ~phew~ did something right then... even if they ARE my mortgage brokers now!

Running_Horse

In your other thread you call them C P Liers (sic), so I guess you only want to hear bad things:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=8399455#post8399455

We used CPL and they were great. As long as they had something to work with they got on with it really quickly. Being able to contact them easily was a bit pointless, as you always get the office junior, but then I don't want senior staff nurse-maiding nervous buyers. Luckily we didn't have to test the no-move no-fee offer.

The only legal delays came from our vendor's small local legal firm who even decided to go home early on the day of exchange, delaying it a week. And were always unavailable when CPL had a query.

Personally, I would use CPL again.

peb

I never had anything with them that has gone through smoothly; they have a high turn over of staff and none of my friends/colleaugues would touch them with a barge pole. No doubt there are some good staff in there but it is impossible to get a straight answer

Billy_the_kid_4

Week 13 now!
Countrywide still have not checked the response to the second lot of enquirys they have raised. It's been sat on their desk for a week now. I've been on the phone to them most days for weeks now, the estate agent has been chasing them, and even the manager from the estate agent is trying. I'm losing my sanity..........

When I accepted the offer on my house I made it quite clear that it should be a quick sale. Surely the estate agent has a duty of care to the customer? It has become apparent that this case is not an isolated one and it is quite normal for countrywide to drag things on in this manner. Would it be possible at all to claim against the estate agent in some way for reccomending them?????