Agggghhhhh…Conveyanc ing Solicitors…..

Looks like he’s been sacked. The EA has put you in this position by recommending this shower. Tell him in no uncertain terms that you want him to get onto them and sort this out immediately. If they want further recommendations from him they will take the complaint seriously, but remember you are probably one of many that this person has left in the lurch.

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.

grandtanteJE65
My elderly friend did almost exactly this when told on the Thursday that she would have to wait till the following week to move becauseof "paperwork".

She had booked a move on the Saturday and a young family with a tiny babywas moving into her house also on the Saturday.

On the Friday she arrived early with sandwiches and a flask and her knitting - and on being told that nobody was available to complete the paperwork she said she'd just wait in case someone became free.

She is very chatty and whilst knitting casually told everyone who came in how dreadful the saga of her move had been. She rolled eyes and listed all the things that went wrong. She never said it was this firms fault. Just sighed a lot. Apparently.

Needless to say, by lunchtime a "senior partner" was "unexpectedly available"

The move went as arranged on the Saturday.

I am sorry

Thanks for all your input and stories. I was hoping to come back and tell you all was well for this Friday but unfortunately not.

I have just rang solicitor to check on things (we were told last week he was on holiday til today) so when I asked for him I was told ‘he no longer works for us’ after giving my details I have told ‘someone will ring you back later this morning’ I’ve heard that so many times now.

I would have come off the phone and cried but I’m so exhausted by lack of sleep I’m sitting here feeling numb.

Haven’t told DH yet as he too had a bad nights sleep and is currently trying to get a bit of shut eye. I need a hug 😩

I have no words to describe the utter and complete uselessness of the conveyancing solicitor (yes, a proper expensive one) who dealt with my sale and purchase. She was charm itself to begin with, then once I had signed up for using her services she became disinterested and monosyllabic to the point of rudeness.

The whole process was vastly delayed and made more difficult by her laziness. I was buying my house from a local developer who was tearing his hair out over her unhelpfulness - he deals with local solicitors all the time and was appalled at her behaviour.

The whole thing was made more difficult when it turned out that she was married to the estate agent!!

A colleague of mine is related to someone who has a removals company and he/ they are arguing against the number of solicitors / conveyancers who are pushing the exchange and completion on the same day.

I don't know if this is specific to the North East but he's had several instances over the last few weeks of;
Getting keys to the new property after 5.00pm (loaded up at 11.00 am).
Delays of 6/7 hrs...he doesn't charge extra but a lot of places do.
1 person having to put their items into storage at 4.00pm because exchange hadn't been done...
Nightmare scenarios when moving is hard enough.

Wow, Madeleine45 that's a blueprint of how to go about it! Great post.

Secretaries will order all the searches bobbydog, but their bosses go through all the search results, replies to enquiries and the title paperwork - they don’t simply ‘sign the necessary papers’ (whatever you mean by ‘necessary papers’ I don’t know).

I worked in a solicitors for many years and can verify that the secretary does most of the leg work and the solicitor just signs the necessary papers. The secretaries know more about the system than their bosses half the time.

This is why my DH and I have sold and become Grey Nomads putting our house contents into storage and flitted from one holiday cottage to another every month. Enjoying seeing different parts of the country while deciding which part takes our fancy before we buy. So less stressful while also having a long staycation at the same time

Like all professions there are good and bad! I've been lucky so far as I used a recommended solicitor and was always moving locally so used him 5 times. The last time we relocated about fifty miles so next time I will need a recommendation for someone local. I guess I should start asking around as I'm planning to downsize.

As well as never using a solicitor recommended by estate agent, I would add never use an EPC provider recommended by Estate agent. I found a very nice lady who did ours for half of what the EA recommended one quoted. She has won awards for her service.

Having worked in the law for many years - including Conveyancing - I would say this:
1. Avoid conveyancing firms, on the whole they are a nightmare.
2. Ask around for recommendations for a good solicitor.
3. Be nice to the secretary - she can be your ally!
4. Remember the solicitor is only part of the process. There are lenders, estate agents and other conveyancers all involved in transaction. It only takes one who is useless to hold everything up.
5. It is only when contracts are exchanged that the completion date is fixed
6. A good estate agent is invaluable, sadly there are not so many of these around but if you are selling again do some research and don’t go for the cheapest necessarily. A local
Agent who’s office you can call into is a good move.

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.

I must have been really lucky. I used the Estate Agent recommended solicitor and he has been fantastic. My stepfather used our local solicitor who has always been good and has had a complete nightmare with them.
In the past they would have been my recommendation but when I wanted a copy of my Mum's LPA sworn they refused because it hadn't been done through a solicitor. It was good enough for the Office of the Public Guardian but not good enough for them. He told me that if I had had it drawn up with a solicitor, he would have done it but not if we'd done it online! 🙄

I have moved 19 times as an adult here and abroad and never for the forces or anything, so have had a range of experiences. Definitely never use the people the estate agents suggest. Do your own research. Various things such as , in one case I did not think that the estate agent was doing much to sell my house, so sent in a friend to pose as a buyer and asking for exactly what my house offered. she was told of two other properties first. I went in cancelled those estate agents and refused to pay them anything and went elsewhere. I told them that as I had proof of their lack of effort on my part, I would write tot he local paper and tell them of the experience. They quickly shut up and I advised anyone else notg to use them. I agree about asking around. Once I am contemplating moving to an area, I get the local paper for a few weeks sent to me. This is worthwhile as you get an idea of the actual area and can see where there may be problem areas that you would not want to live in a specific road. so when I planned to go to somewhere close to Nottingham, I looked at the map and was getting the local paper. There were a couple of bridges over the river which it soon became apparent would be hold up spots with poor traffic or an accident. so then I narrowed down my search area rather like a slice of pie, to look for an appropriate are to look in and then went from there. In another move, saw a house that looked quite possible for what we wanted and was shown round by the estate agent in the afternoon. I asked to go and have another look at it and again was offered an afternoon appointment. So , I then made myself a little chart up of traffic, so cars vans motor bikes etc. along the top line and marked the time of day on the other line and just made a mark in the appropriate square so that at the end of the day I had taken myself a picnic so that I did not miss anything, and it was clear that it was used as a cut through in the early morning going past the house. I repeated the experiment on another day to confirm and then decided not to buy the house. I also , when discussing dates with the solicitor etc, take a tape recorder and just politely say I am recording this so that I dont get mixed up and can let my husband listen to it later. If they are a decent company they should not refuse to do that , and if they dont like it I would go elsewhere. When I have moved a long distance have gone and stayed b and b for about three days which allowed me to do my own research and also try to go and have a look in the winter time or when the weather is miserableMoving is stressful enough anyway and if you saw it on a lovely summer day, you can feel you have made a bad choice when it is miserable on the actual moving. Write yourself a note putting down all the pros and cons you saw when you visited and then when you wonder why you moved you can look back at it. If the solicitor has delayed by the lack of doing something such as sending papers to be signed or leaving it for a couple of weeks without any good reason, I start totting up my time and energy and mileage, and tell them that this is unreasonable and if they cannot now complete the work for the specific date they said I shall be giving them an invoice for my time fuel costs etc . We had one situation, which was not the solicitors fault but the buyers of our house where a young couple, first time buyers. After the survey on our house there was a window that needed some wood replacing etc. My husband told the surveyor the job would be done by the following monday, when he could inspec it etc, He decided to come on the previous thursday, when the jobs was not finished, so help up the whole move refusing their mortgage and all the knock in effects and that was on the actual moving day. My husband had to go and find out all about it , although we had done nothing wrong and all the things were done and a letter stating that the work was finished etc!! It got sorted in the end., but it is always a hassle. Having moved back from abroad when some things had been stored for a time, I have several times found a b and b close to the new place. It is definitely worth them money, as if you are waiting for the removal people and they are late or whatever , you can work as long as you want to on that day, theywe either had a chinese meal or organised to have a casserole at the b and b. so when you have had enough you can leave the mess and go and get a shower and have a decent sleep and breakfast before you tackle the next day. Good luck with it all.

No idea, but isn't it hellish? Our last move in 2013 we literally had two removal vans completely full when the phone rang...our sale was delayed from 13th to 23rd,,,and they'd known for weeks but 'hadn't thought to tell us...' Everything moved back in then moved out again and a 5k bill! Grrr

I’m married to a solicitor who on occasions has used the following

Get a bad solicitor it can take months
Get a good solicitor it will take years

I feel your pain

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

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.

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 !

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

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!

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.

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.

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