Agggghhhhh…Conveyanc ing Solicitors…..

Try asking the estate agent.

Is the person doing the work actually a qualified solicitor? Or in order to make the job profhas the donkey work been passed down to a secretary or clerk? The terms of engagement should have told you who was actually going to be doing the work. You are entitled to know.

I trust you haven’t gone to one of the cheap conveyancing firms.

As with everything, you get what you pay for. The personal attention of a solicitor, especially a partner, costs.

Profitable, not prof.

We have bought and sold many houses and always use the same solicitor, he is thorough and worth every penny, his shroud advice has saved us thousands!

It’s our first house move in 22 years and our estate agent had an offer to use this solicitor, so we’re thinking OK, might as well as we had no idea about how to find a decent conveyancer and seemed like a good idea at the time to take the pressure off.

Just so annoying that no-one seems bothered 😕 hopefully all will fall into place next week…but I’m not holding my breath…

When moving here, we had eight months of this chopping and changing, delays and strange silences. What a merry dance!

The family here had moved out and were paying a bridging loan. We eventually lost patience and decided to pull out.

Then (and only then) we were told our buyers had a big problem with their lease. Within a few weeks, though, we had new buyers and more (much more) money (in the 1988 market) had offered more to our long suffering sellers with the loan - and we'd moved in.

Next time, I simply won't have the patience - or ever remove the house from the market until exchange of contracts.

Never use a conveyancer recommended by an estate agent. They will be of the ‘pile em high and seller cheap’ variety and will want to keep in with the EA to secure more recommendations. The EA will get a commission if you use them, as would have been disclosed to you, and they would have agreed with the EA that they would charge a low fee to recommended clients. They can only do the work to the agreed low fee by delegating to unqualified staff and/or cutting corners. No law firm which I would consider reputable would work with EAs in this way. They are not truly independent because they want the recommendations to continue. As I have already said, you get what you pay for - and you are paying a low fee and getting bad service whilst the EA trousers a commission for having put you in this position,

If you ever move again, ask for recommendations from friends or do your own research. Never use a firm recommended by an EA or a developer.

Don’t tar all solicitors who do conveyancing with the same brush.

We moved 3 years ago. 2 months ago we had a call saying some additional paperwork to do with our purchase had been located and they would post it on. We're still waiting. Apparently it's on the solicitor's desk waiting for her to sign it off.
For 2 other house sales we used qualified conveyancers rather than solicitors and they were much more efficient.

In England a firm completion date is not settled until contracts have been exchanged - then it is a definite date, your Solicitor should have made that clear. Why the delay in sending you the contract for signature? Are you using a Solicitor or a "conveyancer"? If a solicitor then you could complain to the local Law Society about their lack of professionalism.

Don't tar all solicitors etc
How true. GSM did you ever come across Mr Shallet in Westcliff?
We bought 9 properties using him. He went way beyond what you expect from a solicitor. Then unfortunately he died.
My last one was so bad I had bad thoughts about him 😉

The solicitor acting for the vendors of my last property failed to register the property in the new owners name.
We had been in this property for some months when I received a court summons for non payment of council tax 😱

my estate agent had a special person who dealt with my solicitor wrt progression of dates, letters and information etc. EA was worth every penny

Never use an EA recommended conveyancer. Always use a qualified solicitor of your own choice. It costs more but you usually get what you pay for.

We had a dreadful experience with the other side's conveyancers when we bought our current property. As there was a lag in selling the previous house, we specifically told the estate agents that we would not sell to anyone using them.

Totally agree, whilst selling my family house, no chain, used the solicitor recommended by the estate agent and it took 5 months…

Do make sure its being done by a proper solicitor, not a conveyancer. The other side of my son's first purchase was being handled by a conveyancer and our solicitor said she never spoke to the same person twice, and usually couldn't get hold of anyone at all. They never seemed to know what was going on, nobody was overseeing the whole process.

And yes, my son's sellers were using a firm recommended by their Estate Agent.
On the other hand, the estate agents who handled my last recommended a solicitor who proved to be wonderful. Our family have used him twice more since then.

Don't worry or feel guilty about calling them daily. If you wait for them to call you will just get upset if you don't get an answer or they keep putting you off. At least with a daily telephone call, they should at least be able to keep you posted and not have to remember to call you. Plus damage limitation after your daily call no use worrying till the next day.... or at least until nearer next Friday...I used to work years ago in conveyancing and the people that phoned everyday files' used to be placed on top and the secretary would chase up the solicitor for an answer. Try to be nice to the secretary and she will hopefully reciprocate. Good luck I'm sure things will work out but remember whilst it means everything to you and the other people in the chain, you are really just a file number to the solicitor. Try not to worry too much. Take control back and don't be afraid or embarrassed to call them daily. Big girl panties time..

For some mad reason we move house every 3 to 4 years. And yes we have just sold our house and our offer has been accepted on a house 90 miles from where we live now. It’s always a nightmare so I’ve promised myself and my husband that this will be our last move.
We had the same problem a few years ago. A date was agreed by all parties, there were 5 in the chain. Then 10 days before that date the lady at the top of the chain realised that she had booked a coach trip on the agreed moving date so we all had to agree another date.
The huge problem was that we had booked our removal company which was needed for 2 days as we were moving South to North. Obviously we lost them as they couldn’t do the new date.
So stressful.
I wish you a pain free moving day when you get a date bytheway! x

Some years ago I was looking to downsize and my neighbour 3 doors away was looking to move into my house as she missed out when we bought it. So basically we did a swap, so absolutely no chain at all. Things went really well for a while then we settled on a moving date over a bank holiday so that we had a long weekend to completely do the exchange. We told the solicitors that this was the date we wanted to complete. They then told us that we couldn't move until 2 weeks after that date as they needed more time to complete the paperwork. We told the solicitor that we would do it anyway and that we would just have the completion date put back the two weeks, basically we would house sit each other's properties. And the solicitor said that would delay things even further as we would have to pay each other rent and rental agreements would have to be drawn up!! In the end we just told the solicitor that we wouldn't move till the completion date then. But we still moved on our chosen weekend and took no notice of the solicitor's 'advice'.

Moving weekend was quite something just strolling up and down the road with our possessions, friends unsure exactly what had to go, and taking things back accidentally. and my poor dog just stuck to my leg until her chair had gone to the new house when she happily settled in. I don't think I'll ever move again.

We are going through exactly the same at the moment MIL house first it was yesterday now it's Monday. It's been a pain and yes I would get my own solicitor next time.

Can't you simply ring whoever is buying your house and the person selling the one you are moving to and ask whether they know what is going on? They are presumably just as frustrated as you are.

I don't live in the UK, so I may be asking a stupid question, if so, sorry.

Otherwise try going to the solicitor's office and planting yourself in the reception area and announce that you intend to stay there until someone with the authority to do so, tells you when you will be able to move house.

Take coffee, a packed lunch and your knitting or a good book with you.

I once heard of a priest who sat reading his breviary all day in an office until someone attended him, breaking off only to eat his packed lunch and drink a glass of water,

It worked!

Moved house in 1990 and did the conveyancing myself, with the guidance of my (then) partner, whose father was a barrister - this meant he was not afraid of the law, I think. It was just a case of tedious admin, step by step. HOWEVER, at the time I was only selling. I would not do that if I were buying. There ought to be some come-back on 'professionals' who behave like this - I would report it to the Ombudsman

It’s a nightmare! On the day my daughter moved there was a last minute hold up because one of the future occupants of the house they were buying hadn’t signed the mortgage agreement. The lenders, last minute, had deemed this necessary. HE WAS TwO YEARS OLD ! When I bought my present home the process was held up because I hadn’t signed something. When I asked what it was that needed to be signed the indignant woman on the ‘phone said it was the document that was sitting on her desk at that very minute - unsigned. As this was Direct Line I was confused. Had they an office where I could go in order to sign it ? … Silence . “ Well ,er, no. I ‘ll have to send it to you . Silly me “ My first house ,that I bought when I was just 23, was re- occupied by the couple I’d bought it from and they refused to leave for over a month even though I had already started paying the mortgage. It’s a stressful time but worth it in the end. Good luck !

I have bought and sold several houses and always use a licensed conveyancer. Always received first class service, never had a problem and have saved loads compared to what a solicitor charges.

When I was quite young I asked several solicitors for quotes and, having read about LC, got a quote from them too. It was so much cheaper. I asked one solicitor how come his quote was so much more and he said “because with me you will get personal service.” Being young and cheeky I asked exactly what that meant and he said “you can always pop in for a coffee and chat.” 🤣🤣 it was thanks, but no thanks.

I will add that my friend is a retired legal secretary (unqualified but learnt on the job) and she used to tell me that when she worked in conveyancing the client was charged at Solicitors rates but she or one of the other junior staff did all the searching, queries etc.

I am currently buying my husband out of our house due to separating and the stress is unbelievable!

. I have been very fortunate to employ a financial advisor at the beginning of the whole process and he and his partner have been worth their weight in gold. Equally,my solicitors have been amazing, explaining everything to me like a 5 year old. I wont be moving anytime soon though! Once this house becomes mine I am staying put! I sympathise totally with your situation and hope that it all goes ahead on the 20th xx