Conveyancing - incompetent solicitor
Discussion
Who is now ignoring me...
How do you kick things on? - refuses to answer my calls, refuses to answer emails...it's now 11-12 weeks into the process for a tiny chain (me in the middle of a FTB and executor)...
Press for questions, targets etc. with no reply and no clue whats happening - our original exchange target was over a month ago! (Allowed 7 weeks to there!)
Even being called by third parties as they have the same treatment...
'#frustrated!
How do you kick things on? - refuses to answer my calls, refuses to answer emails...it's now 11-12 weeks into the process for a tiny chain (me in the middle of a FTB and executor)...
Press for questions, targets etc. with no reply and no clue whats happening - our original exchange target was over a month ago! (Allowed 7 weeks to there!)
Even being called by third parties as they have the same treatment...
'#frustrated!
Edited by kiethton on Thursday 12th November 14:05
Charlie1986 said:
Has Probate been granted? they could be waiting on that to start. What has the agent said? are they not chasing?
Probate there and ready, I've spoken to the agent who is also getting continual fob off treatment - "on another line - will call back" and then nothing, repeatedly...He has even called her incompetant....she is a partner so can't go higher
Can't find her on SRA - (maiden name?) - search in top right (or the firm) but can on the law society's site?
Pitching up is difficult - I'm in a work busy period atm so my normal 6:30am - 7pm days are stretched....further - may have to take a half day when i can though
Its just the little things atm - when the agent did get through she didn't know what stage we were at, can't answer questions re. purchasers position (wanting ancillaries or not?), trying to get a date sorted....
Agent said that I needed to request a report from my management co. (his update from her) yet I know nothing of it.... etc. etc. etc....
Update:
Called late in the day yesterday and she wouldn't speak to me, given the "she's busy but said" excuse - waiting on doc's from the other solicitors (the fact they are chasing me shows this isn't the case).
I would love to change but aren't I too far down this road? - also other complication is that as this process has dragged on she has been removed from my lenders panel....for poor service....so have another lot appointed by the lender to handle the cash...
Just a total and utter nightmare!
Called late in the day yesterday and she wouldn't speak to me, given the "she's busy but said" excuse - waiting on doc's from the other solicitors (the fact they are chasing me shows this isn't the case).
I would love to change but aren't I too far down this road? - also other complication is that as this process has dragged on she has been removed from my lenders panel....for poor service....so have another lot appointed by the lender to handle the cash...
Just a total and utter nightmare!
She is the senior partner (well one of the two but oldest by a long way according to the net) so no joy there. Sensitized e-mail just sent below:
xxxxxx,
I find the lack of communication worrying. As you are no doubt aware I tried calling you again yesterday, as I have done daily, and again you were unavailable. To compound this no e-mail has been answered or promises of call-backs offered by yourself or your receptionist acted upon. This is not acceptable.
Further to the below, what is the status of the transaction?
Please provide the status of every action/requirement completed to date alongside any item which remains outstanding. I am being chased by agents and other parties to the transaction as to the status of proceedings as they are unable to get an answer from yourself. With communication not being forthcoming from yourself, it paints us both in a very poor light, especially in the context of the current market.
Beyond the “awaiting documents” response given by your receptionist yesterday, the majority of the questions asked are not reliant on checks yet remain un-answered nonetheless. No request made by myself has been either unreasonable or binding.
So beyond the above status please clarify;
• An indication of proposed timings going forward – “target exchange date of x with a 1 week gap to completion” would suffice within reason.
• Whether the purchasers of my property intend to take-up the additional items listed on the sale itinerary
• Were the external solicitors satisfied with the contracts expected back with yourself on Monday? – if you are yet to hear, please forward me contact details to chase
In any event please forward me a copy of the contracts sent and any checks received to date for personal review.
Should I hear nothing material by 5pm this afternoon, I will consider all options available to myself, not limited to the immediate appointment of another firm to represent my interests, to contact the SRA to lodge a formal complaint and to seek recovery of all sums paid on account to date.
Regards,
Kiethon
xxxxxx,
I find the lack of communication worrying. As you are no doubt aware I tried calling you again yesterday, as I have done daily, and again you were unavailable. To compound this no e-mail has been answered or promises of call-backs offered by yourself or your receptionist acted upon. This is not acceptable.
Further to the below, what is the status of the transaction?
Please provide the status of every action/requirement completed to date alongside any item which remains outstanding. I am being chased by agents and other parties to the transaction as to the status of proceedings as they are unable to get an answer from yourself. With communication not being forthcoming from yourself, it paints us both in a very poor light, especially in the context of the current market.
Beyond the “awaiting documents” response given by your receptionist yesterday, the majority of the questions asked are not reliant on checks yet remain un-answered nonetheless. No request made by myself has been either unreasonable or binding.
So beyond the above status please clarify;
• An indication of proposed timings going forward – “target exchange date of x with a 1 week gap to completion” would suffice within reason.
• Whether the purchasers of my property intend to take-up the additional items listed on the sale itinerary
• Were the external solicitors satisfied with the contracts expected back with yourself on Monday? – if you are yet to hear, please forward me contact details to chase
In any event please forward me a copy of the contracts sent and any checks received to date for personal review.
Should I hear nothing material by 5pm this afternoon, I will consider all options available to myself, not limited to the immediate appointment of another firm to represent my interests, to contact the SRA to lodge a formal complaint and to seek recovery of all sums paid on account to date.
Regards,
Kiethon
Rude-boy said:
Any news OP?
Seriously you have just lost another day as I see this.
Have you called and spoken to anyone at lender's sols about instructing them?
Yep...its hugely frustrating - still no reply, from anybody. As we were originally due to be out mid-October our sky TV, internet etc. was cut from then so we're living a pauper's life surrounded by boxes....no wifi also means no netflix etal and a huge bobile data bill for the GF.Seriously you have just lost another day as I see this.
Have you called and spoken to anyone at lender's sols about instructing them?
I've called the lenders solicitors, they refuse to tell me whether papers have been sent as they represent the lender and not myself - "not our client so can't say".
I asked for a quote but have said that they then have to revert to the lender to give it to me, doing so would cancel the current process. Having had a bad experience (costing me 3 weeks) with the lender, exacerbated by the solicitor, I'm keen to avoid this...for now.
Other other pressing issue is that we are off on holiday after xmas so January is a write off, it needs to happen within 3 weeks or it'll be February by the time anything can happen, taking the mick as my place was under offer in late July and my offer accepted in Mid-August, 12 weeks in and seemingly no end in sight
She has finally come back to me this morning after another prompt and provided a full breakdown of where we are currently and what remains outstanding.
A thorough reply has been sent, addressing any issues and trying to discuss what needs to be done, alongside a reminder to actually speak to me. Given it may only be a week/10 days to exchange (based on the outstanding bits) its looking like it may be best to stick where we are as (if she is correct) they are in the process of being sorted....
We'll see, may just be a case of continuing where we are for, dependent on an actual reply to the bits stated as there seems to be a little more external complication to resolve. We'll see....
A thorough reply has been sent, addressing any issues and trying to discuss what needs to be done, alongside a reminder to actually speak to me. Given it may only be a week/10 days to exchange (based on the outstanding bits) its looking like it may be best to stick where we are as (if she is correct) they are in the process of being sorted....
We'll see, may just be a case of continuing where we are for, dependent on an actual reply to the bits stated as there seems to be a little more external complication to resolve. We'll see....
My solicitor now seems to be playing ball, after the strongly worded e-mail sent a page or 2 back.
Seems like i'm just waiting on searches, however.....I've been told that my purchasers have had their searches etc. done but are yet to give their solicitor a mortgage offer.....
How this wasn't picked up by any of them sooner I really don't know!
I've given our resident mortgage brokers contact details to my solicitor for forwarding - he works quickly that one! - so lets hope they finally pull their finger out!
As its shared ownership the HA that sold the stake have also been told to warn them that if an offer isn't lodged by the end of the week, we will return to one of the (many) keen under-bidders...
Seems like i'm just waiting on searches, however.....I've been told that my purchasers have had their searches etc. done but are yet to give their solicitor a mortgage offer.....
How this wasn't picked up by any of them sooner I really don't know!
I've given our resident mortgage brokers contact details to my solicitor for forwarding - he works quickly that one! - so lets hope they finally pull their finger out!
As its shared ownership the HA that sold the stake have also been told to warn them that if an offer isn't lodged by the end of the week, we will return to one of the (many) keen under-bidders...
So, typing through the red mist...
After finally sussing the cause of the delay and camping out at my solicitors office to push things we were due to exchange today. Calls to the solicitor were answered:
10am - all on, purchaser (yes the one that didn't know you needed to apply for a mortgage) is ready with mortgage in place
11am - all on but solicitor to speak with client and confirm
12pm - no update and no replies to calls
I then contact the purchaser who tells me that he's failed the f
king mortgage affordability! I'd given him Sarnie's details to avoid this clusterfk/tell him sooner but he didn't use him, insisting instead on the HA's recommendation/"partner" (kickback).
Thing is the Housing association had previously financially proofed him for affordability and selected him as the preferred purchaser (I wanted the fking cash buyer at the same price but had no option!). So I'm now accruing £1,100pm in costs, am out of the country for the next month and seemingly at a dead end, the place was "sold" in July/August!!!!
I can't really delay it as I don;t want to loose the place we're moving into! I've just literally told the HA that they're to step in and complete the purchase, selling on at their leisure to whomever they want, or that they're responsible for the costs i'm accruing due to their negligence.
They insisted on the purchaser despite the being others more suitable, they likely didn't do a fking thing...even if they don't play ball the bank will repay my DD's under the charge-back scheme, they can chase me for it!
What would PH do from here?
Yours, a pissed off kiethton!
After finally sussing the cause of the delay and camping out at my solicitors office to push things we were due to exchange today. Calls to the solicitor were answered:
10am - all on, purchaser (yes the one that didn't know you needed to apply for a mortgage) is ready with mortgage in place
11am - all on but solicitor to speak with client and confirm
12pm - no update and no replies to calls
I then contact the purchaser who tells me that he's failed the f
king mortgage affordability! I'd given him Sarnie's details to avoid this clusterfk/tell him sooner but he didn't use him, insisting instead on the HA's recommendation/"partner" (kickback).Thing is the Housing association had previously financially proofed him for affordability and selected him as the preferred purchaser (I wanted the f
king cash buyer at the same price but had no option!). So I'm now accruing £1,100pm in costs, am out of the country for the next month and seemingly at a dead end, the place was "sold" in July/August!!!!I can't really delay it as I don;t want to loose the place we're moving into! I've just literally told the HA that they're to step in and complete the purchase, selling on at their leisure to whomever they want, or that they're responsible for the costs i'm accruing due to their negligence.
They insisted on the purchaser despite the being others more suitable, they likely didn't do a f
king thing...even if they don't play ball the bank will repay my DD's under the charge-back scheme, they can chase me for it!What would PH do from here?
Yours, a pissed off kiethton!
And this is still dragging through...my solicitor is actually ok now thankfully
Buyer from the above turned out to be a dreamer incapable of getting a mortgage, but selected without my input and negligently by the housing association. They then re-marketed and got another buyer who was also non-mortgageable! Complete incompetence...
By this time (early February) I'd had enough and sold the place on the open market within the day...
All going swimmingly, ready to complete on Monday (was meant to be yesterday) but now it turns out that they are refusing to get their house in order to allow me to complete! They're now stating that they didn't know what was happening when i have multiple emails showing otherwise, meaning my paperwork (required for their bureaucratic means - district valuer valuation) is now a few days expired, the price won't change in any event.
I've been out since last December with my stuff in storage, at significant cost! Plus still paying the mortgage costs, rent and council tax etc.
It's been suggested that I get a solicitors letter drawn up, threatening to claim costs owing from their inadequacy/incompetence or forcing them to actually do their job...
Will my solicitor do this or is it something that has to be done elsewhere (I will be suing them afterwards for additional costs incurred in any event)
Buyer from the above turned out to be a dreamer incapable of getting a mortgage, but selected without my input and negligently by the housing association. They then re-marketed and got another buyer who was also non-mortgageable! Complete incompetence...
By this time (early February) I'd had enough and sold the place on the open market within the day...
All going swimmingly, ready to complete on Monday (was meant to be yesterday) but now it turns out that they are refusing to get their house in order to allow me to complete! They're now stating that they didn't know what was happening when i have multiple emails showing otherwise, meaning my paperwork (required for their bureaucratic means - district valuer valuation) is now a few days expired, the price won't change in any event.
I've been out since last December with my stuff in storage, at significant cost! Plus still paying the mortgage costs, rent and council tax etc.
It's been suggested that I get a solicitors letter drawn up, threatening to claim costs owing from their inadequacy/incompetence or forcing them to actually do their job...
Will my solicitor do this or is it something that has to be done elsewhere (I will be suing them afterwards for additional costs incurred in any event)
Thanks, it's just the housing association that are holding things up now:
Denying they knew what is happening although they wrote an email last month when they re-wrote word for word what is happening.
With the faf that they've created the district valuer's valuation is now out of date (despite being renewed twice at £100's each time) - it's expired by a few days so you need a new one which will then mess up the cost it's sold for and paperwork that's ready to go etc. - look at the markets, they're flat/beginning to turn! (I'm London and analyse property markets for a living!)
Parents have suggested a solicitors letter to them cc'ing the CEO basically saying if they continue to delay the process we hold them liable for all costs incurred to push it through (I'll be claiming costs associated with their incompetence to date post-sale regardless). They seem to be answerable to nobody and have pointless bureaucratic processes to follow that can't be deviated from regardless of sanity/uselessness.
What's most frustrating is I used to do bad debt work-out for a once mighty Irish bank post-crash, we could turn a sale around in only a few days including appointing receivers if necessary! How a basic sale can take 6 months and counting in legals is beyond me
Denying they knew what is happening although they wrote an email last month when they re-wrote word for word what is happening.
With the faf that they've created the district valuer's valuation is now out of date (despite being renewed twice at £100's each time) - it's expired by a few days so you need a new one which will then mess up the cost it's sold for and paperwork that's ready to go etc. - look at the markets, they're flat/beginning to turn! (I'm London and analyse property markets for a living!)
Parents have suggested a solicitors letter to them cc'ing the CEO basically saying if they continue to delay the process we hold them liable for all costs incurred to push it through (I'll be claiming costs associated with their incompetence to date post-sale regardless). They seem to be answerable to nobody and have pointless bureaucratic processes to follow that can't be deviated from regardless of sanity/uselessness.
What's most frustrating is I used to do bad debt work-out for a once mighty Irish bank post-crash, we could turn a sale around in only a few days including appointing receivers if necessary! How a basic sale can take 6 months and counting in legals is beyond me
And still this drags on...
My solicitor is very much the problem, I've had everybody chasing me as she's refusing (again) to speak to me or others despite repeated calls.
We were due to exchange 2 weeks ago, then last week and now it's tomorrow. The third party have told me of a very minor conveyance issue that she's just not going back to people on!
I need to be in the new place by Thursday, it's now looking less and less likely! (Not being would take 4 days of renovations, pushing back our move-in by 2+ weeks and costing me £700+ in mortgage and costs!)
Head bang wall!! I just don't know what to do anymore!
Decided that I'm going to pitch myself up at her office tomorrow morning and not leave until we're exchanged or due to be that day.
My solicitor is very much the problem, I've had everybody chasing me as she's refusing (again) to speak to me or others despite repeated calls.
We were due to exchange 2 weeks ago, then last week and now it's tomorrow. The third party have told me of a very minor conveyance issue that she's just not going back to people on!
I need to be in the new place by Thursday, it's now looking less and less likely! (Not being would take 4 days of renovations, pushing back our move-in by 2+ weeks and costing me £700+ in mortgage and costs!)
Head bang wall!! I just don't know what to do anymore!
Decided that I'm going to pitch myself up at her office tomorrow morning and not leave until we're exchanged or due to be that day.
She is the senior partner 
Over this (7 month) process (although first 4 were not entirely her fault but could have been shortened) her firm has been struck off my mortgage companies approved list for poor service, the building is in dis-repair, looks like she's just running it into the ground ahead of retirement tbh
Over this (7 month) process (although first 4 were not entirely her fault but could have been shortened) her firm has been struck off my mortgage companies approved list for poor service, the building is in dis-repair, looks like she's just running it into the ground ahead of retirement tbh
Very true, but very hard to remove when she's in place....
Still no answer and more refused calls, as a result I've sent her a rather strongly worded email saying basically why have you not been replying, not acceptable etc reminding her that I'm being chased by others that she is not replying to...
Basically says call me before midday else I'll come to the offices this afternoon....
Still no answer and more refused calls, as a result I've sent her a rather strongly worded email saying basically why have you not been replying, not acceptable etc reminding her that I'm being chased by others that she is not replying to...
Basically says call me before midday else I'll come to the offices this afternoon....
Well she did actually get back to me, bang on the deadline but hasn't come back to my reply!
Issue is that things that should have been taken care of weeks ago haven't been (she says its not her side of the transaction) but she's apparently on getting it sorted asap - lease variation (common standard template change) and the physical mortgage paperwork for the purchaser hasn't come despite being outstanding 3 weeks ago! - still don't know why this hasn't been chased!
I've spoken to the agents who seem to be saying that given the outstanding issues we have no chance of it happening by Thursday...as they'll then have to send the paperwork to the purchasers and wait near a week for mortgage funds, typical!
Issue is that things that should have been taken care of weeks ago haven't been (she says its not her side of the transaction) but she's apparently on getting it sorted asap - lease variation (common standard template change) and the physical mortgage paperwork for the purchaser hasn't come despite being outstanding 3 weeks ago! - still don't know why this hasn't been chased!
I've spoken to the agents who seem to be saying that given the outstanding issues we have no chance of it happening by Thursday...as they'll then have to send the paperwork to the purchasers and wait near a week for mortgage funds, typical!
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