Fecking lazy / stupid / incompetent solicitors.
Discussion
I share your pain, for various complicated reasons I have just complained to the Law Society about five separate lawyers here in New Zealand. All of them trying to cover things up or generally acting in an intimidating manner.
Put a complaint in to the Law Society, nothing may happen but it will make you feel better and some sort of investigation will have to take place.
Solicitors have a privileged position, too many abuse their position and never have to face the consequences.
Put a complaint in to the Law Society, nothing may happen but it will make you feel better and some sort of investigation will have to take place.
Solicitors have a privileged position, too many abuse their position and never have to face the consequences.
They're shocking.
In 2007 I took on a recently empty retail shop in my local town, to set up a business. I happily signed the landlord's lease paperwork, without any alarm bells ringing about the clause that 'I would be liable for the payment of the preparation of the new lease via my landlord's preferred solicitors.'
As the landlord had let the premises recently to another business, I figured that the solicitors had to only run out another copy of the existing lease, changing only the page with my details on it, and the rental agreement. No other changes were required.
And indeed, this is exactly what happened. I received an existing lease, that had been badly photocopied at best, with just a new back page with my name on it.
The cost for this, including 'vat'....?
2 frikking grand!
Two - thousand - pounds!!!!
At least Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask, and had a horse, guns and ammo to pay for....
But I was too far into the deal to argue / back out. So I had to suck it up and pay it.
Bloody solicitor b
ds.
In 2007 I took on a recently empty retail shop in my local town, to set up a business. I happily signed the landlord's lease paperwork, without any alarm bells ringing about the clause that 'I would be liable for the payment of the preparation of the new lease via my landlord's preferred solicitors.'
As the landlord had let the premises recently to another business, I figured that the solicitors had to only run out another copy of the existing lease, changing only the page with my details on it, and the rental agreement. No other changes were required.
And indeed, this is exactly what happened. I received an existing lease, that had been badly photocopied at best, with just a new back page with my name on it.
The cost for this, including 'vat'....?
2 frikking grand!
Two - thousand - pounds!!!!
At least Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask, and had a horse, guns and ammo to pay for....
But I was too far into the deal to argue / back out. So I had to suck it up and pay it.
Bloody solicitor b
ds.Collate all costs alongside all communications and accurate detail on deadlines missed and mistakes made. Any dishonesty is also important to be recorded.
Contact the legal ombudsman. It will be a lengthy process but if what you say is true you will be able to persue them for compensation. Hitting them in the pocket is the only way they learn.
Good luck.
Contact the legal ombudsman. It will be a lengthy process but if what you say is true you will be able to persue them for compensation. Hitting them in the pocket is the only way they learn.
Good luck.
Edited by Bit of a Unit on Monday 21st July 20:44
Just bought a house that went through by the skin of it's teeth. We were in rented, waiting for it to happen and the house had been unoccupied for two years. It took nearly four months and very nearly fell through (mortgage offer about to expire and solicitors couldn't hold on to money for another day).
You have to do all the chasing for them as they consider their job to have finished as soon as they have sent a fax requesting information from another party. Absolutely hate them.
You have to do all the chasing for them as they consider their job to have finished as soon as they have sent a fax requesting information from another party. Absolutely hate them.
Maybe we wouldn't moan so much about their fees if they acted like professionals and as if our time was nearly as valuable as theirs.
I had an email from the buyer's solicitors yesterday. The photocopied pdf attached was of poor quality, with some pages upside down. OK, ctrl-alt-down arrow inverts the PC screen but I shouldn't have to do it. Finally, the document itself: they couldn't even spell the name of my solicitors correctly. I began my reply with "After making due allowance for the poor spelling, punctuation and grammar in your communication, ....."
I don't care if I've upset them. 20 years ago we actually dumped an estate agent due to the poor quality of the text in the brochure for our house.
I had an email from the buyer's solicitors yesterday. The photocopied pdf attached was of poor quality, with some pages upside down. OK, ctrl-alt-down arrow inverts the PC screen but I shouldn't have to do it. Finally, the document itself: they couldn't even spell the name of my solicitors correctly. I began my reply with "After making due allowance for the poor spelling, punctuation and grammar in your communication, ....."
I don't care if I've upset them. 20 years ago we actually dumped an estate agent due to the poor quality of the text in the brochure for our house.
We bought a house 18 or so months ago - viewed it on Dec 19th - got the keys Jan 25th. They aren't all bad.
I did make a point of emailing all concerned parties regularly (solicitor, estate agent, financial advisor) and copying all of them in on every email.
Good luck getting it sorted and they really should complain.
I did make a point of emailing all concerned parties regularly (solicitor, estate agent, financial advisor) and copying all of them in on every email.
Good luck getting it sorted and they really should complain.
Our house purchase took 5 months and it was only down to st solicitors. There's nothing more annoying than people telling you you should keep on top of them and it should only take a couple of months tops, if they don't return calls or emails what can you do, I didn't hear from mine in ten days after numerous messages and emails. You'd think they'd try a bit harder to get more business, word of mouth, repeat business etc.
t solicitors. There's nothing more annoying than people telling you you should keep on top of them and it should only take a couple of months tops, if they don't return calls or emails what can you do, I didn't hear from mine in ten days after numerous messages and emails. You'd think they'd try a bit harder to get more business, word of mouth, repeat business etc. kapiteinlangzaam said:
Heard from my dear old mum that its something to do with the new 'first time buyer' mortgage process....
Some new rules were introduced in Feb? and one of these is a fixed 5 day pause between transfer of docs and transfer of funds... does that sound familiar to anyone, Sarnie perhaps?
Hello property lawyer here.Some new rules were introduced in Feb? and one of these is a fixed 5 day pause between transfer of docs and transfer of funds... does that sound familiar to anyone, Sarnie perhaps?
It sounds like they didn't forward the completed Certificate of Title and request for funds to the bank in time.
Most lenders say in their standard instructions that they need to have the Certificate of Title X number of days before completion so that they can complete their internal processes to transfer the funds but in reality that rarely happens. You usually end up waiting for various things until fairly close to completion.
kapiteinlangzaam said:
Heard from my dear old mum that its something to do with the new 'first time buyer' mortgage process....
Some new rules were introduced in Feb? and one of these is a fixed 5 day pause between transfer of docs and transfer of funds... does that sound familiar to anyone, Sarnie perhaps?
The new MMR rules brought in on 26th April were focused on lending and affordability.........nothing to do with the timing of the release of funds....Some new rules were introduced in Feb? and one of these is a fixed 5 day pause between transfer of docs and transfer of funds... does that sound familiar to anyone, Sarnie perhaps?
As I said, and as Davey has confirmed, most lender specify that they require a certain number of days but in reality it can always been done quicker as and when required.
I would guess that there is something else not quite ready and they are blaming it on not send the CoT on time......
I honestly feel your pain, we viewed our house on 28th December 2013, and planned to move in on 14th April to tie in with the sale of our house. Plenty of time, or so i thought
Due to the worst solicitor ive ever had the displeasure of using (she spent more time on holiday and sick than actually in the office and the days she decided to show her face she was understandable inundated with people/backlogs) we ended up moving in 3 weeks ago, after having to put all our stuff in storage and sofa surf with my OH, dog and cat since the 14th April.
Due to the worst solicitor ive ever had the displeasure of using (she spent more time on holiday and sick than actually in the office and the days she decided to show her face she was understandable inundated with people/backlogs) we ended up moving in 3 weeks ago, after having to put all our stuff in storage and sofa surf with my OH, dog and cat since the 14th April.
sidekickdmr said:
I honestly feel your pain, we viewed our house on 28th December 2013, and planned to move in on 14th April to tie in with the sale of our house. Plenty of time, or so i thought
Due to the worst solicitor ive ever had the displeasure of using (she spent more time on holiday and sick than actually in the office and the days she decided to show her face she was understandable inundated with people/backlogs) we ended up moving in 3 weeks ago, after having to put all our stuff in storage and sofa surf with my OH, dog and cat since the 14th April.
God that is an horrendous length of time and normal house purchases are bloody long anyway!Due to the worst solicitor ive ever had the displeasure of using (she spent more time on holiday and sick than actually in the office and the days she decided to show her face she was understandable inundated with people/backlogs) we ended up moving in 3 weeks ago, after having to put all our stuff in storage and sofa surf with my OH, dog and cat since the 14th April.
vescaegg said:
sidekickdmr said:
I honestly feel your pain, we viewed our house on 28th December 2013, and planned to move in on 14th April to tie in with the sale of our house. Plenty of time, or so i thought
Due to the worst solicitor ive ever had the displeasure of using (she spent more time on holiday and sick than actually in the office and the days she decided to show her face she was understandable inundated with people/backlogs) we ended up moving in 3 weeks ago, after having to put all our stuff in storage and sofa surf with my OH, dog and cat since the 14th April.
God that is an horrendous length of time and normal house purchases are bloody long anyway!Due to the worst solicitor ive ever had the displeasure of using (she spent more time on holiday and sick than actually in the office and the days she decided to show her face she was understandable inundated with people/backlogs) we ended up moving in 3 weeks ago, after having to put all our stuff in storage and sofa surf with my OH, dog and cat since the 14th April.
When me and the mrs got out first house we had offer accepted in mid dec and moved in 2nd feb. So took 6weeks from acceptance to moving in.
And that's including the 2 weeks off for Xmas.
This was purely down to me phoning the conveyancing company, mortgage company, solicitors, estate agents and anyone else involved daily, if not twice daily. To push, kick, drag them into doing what they were paid to do!
Advantage of walking the dog, gave me 2 x 30mins of time to chase everyone.
So there is hope.
And that's including the 2 weeks off for Xmas.
This was purely down to me phoning the conveyancing company, mortgage company, solicitors, estate agents and anyone else involved daily, if not twice daily. To push, kick, drag them into doing what they were paid to do!
Advantage of walking the dog, gave me 2 x 30mins of time to chase everyone.
So there is hope.
A couple of points I think.
If anyone needs to complain, it's the OP's parents' buyer and I don't believe that anyone else really can, although I may be wrong and the authority writing a new complaints handling manual for the Law Society (who normally sits beside me here) has gone out so I cannot confirm this.
On solicitors generally, in the last thirty odd years, I reckon that I have worked in more firms than anyone else on this site, apart from a BT engineer or a photocopier salesman. I can list over 120 firms where I have worked in one way or another, either in the accounts department directly, or training or troubleshooting. Some of those firms have been the most disorganized offices I have ever been in and some have been the most efficient, smoothest operation you might encounter. In every case, in conveyancing transactions, the principals and fee earners have always bust a gut to make sure that stuff happens on time, every time, without exception. They have always done their very fking best to make it happen, frequently against all the odds, It's what they do.
Some st is outside their control - morons who don't return paperwork or who won't pay a bank charge, banks and building societies that forget to send the money in advance or send a cheque which arrives on completion day, last minute (necessarily) searches revealing that someone has gone bankrupt in the interim - and so on. For our move before last, our purchaser, on the day of exchange, asked us to knock £2000 of the asking price. I told her to fk off and the whole chain collapsed.
In the OP's case, I doubt that the holdup is solely down to the solicitors and is probably a combination of them, the lender and the client.
Re charges, I am in the middle of completing PII proposals for a number of firms, all with good claims records and no issues. I reckon that each form will take at least two days to complete properly. Early estimations show that the firms in question will pay insurance premiums of at least £400 for every conveyancing transaction they undertake. And these are the very good firms, so those with a poor record will probably be paying closer to £600/£700 per transaction.
Knock that off the fees you pay and then look at the charges in a slightly different light.
If anyone needs to complain, it's the OP's parents' buyer and I don't believe that anyone else really can, although I may be wrong and the authority writing a new complaints handling manual for the Law Society (who normally sits beside me here) has gone out so I cannot confirm this.
On solicitors generally, in the last thirty odd years, I reckon that I have worked in more firms than anyone else on this site, apart from a BT engineer or a photocopier salesman. I can list over 120 firms where I have worked in one way or another, either in the accounts department directly, or training or troubleshooting. Some of those firms have been the most disorganized offices I have ever been in and some have been the most efficient, smoothest operation you might encounter. In every case, in conveyancing transactions, the principals and fee earners have always bust a gut to make sure that stuff happens on time, every time, without exception. They have always done their very f
king best to make it happen, frequently against all the odds, It's what they do. Some s
t is outside their control - morons who don't return paperwork or who won't pay a bank charge, banks and building societies that forget to send the money in advance or send a cheque which arrives on completion day, last minute (necessarily) searches revealing that someone has gone bankrupt in the interim - and so on. For our move before last, our purchaser, on the day of exchange, asked us to knock £2000 of the asking price. I told her to fk off and the whole chain collapsed. In the OP's case, I doubt that the holdup is solely down to the solicitors and is probably a combination of them, the lender and the client.
Re charges, I am in the middle of completing PII proposals for a number of firms, all with good claims records and no issues. I reckon that each form will take at least two days to complete properly. Early estimations show that the firms in question will pay insurance premiums of at least £400 for every conveyancing transaction they undertake. And these are the very good firms, so those with a poor record will probably be paying closer to £600/£700 per transaction.
Knock that off the fees you pay and then look at the charges in a slightly different light.
CoolHands said:
is there a body you can make a complaint to? Might as well create them some flak
You can make a complaint to the Compliance Partner of the firmYou can make a complaint to the SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority)
You can make a complaint to the Law Society
Had contracts exchanged with a completion date fixed? If so your parents solicitor should be writing to the sellers claiming non performance under the contract. Your solicitor can also complain to the above bodies on your parents behalf.
I would be writing a largely toothless letter to the buyer suggesting that as they failed to complete on time your parents will be seeking to claim consequential loss from them and that you may join their solicitor in any action.
Almost certainly unenforceable but may focus minds
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