We are buying our first house - but it seems like there's a gap in communication between solicitors. What should we do if anything?
Posted by WatercressOld6094@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 32 comments
Hey! So we're buying our first home, a property we were told is without a chain as the seller is moving into a vacant property. We're all ready to go and our solicitors had a completion date set for last Friday. With our solicitor we have signed contracts, had funds transferred and mortgage funds transferred. However our solicitors called us a couple days before completion date to inform us that it turns out they hadn't actually spoken to the sellers solicitors yet. I don't understand how we've got so far in process without that?
Every time we chase them up they tell us that they can't get through to the seller's solicitors. We tried to find our why with our sales progressor from the estate agents and it seems like the seller's solicitor may be on extended long term sick leave and that is why we've had no communication.
We're at a bit of a loss as to what to do next or wether we should be doing anything or just waiting it all out? It seemed like everything was ready to go, and in the seller's notes on the paperwork it seemed like he was too and wanted to be out by early to mid April? Our solicitor and sales progressor said on Wednesday that they would follow up that day and we still haven't heard back.
Thanks!
ItsDominare@reddit
This statement alone is worthy of a formal complaint to the firm. It's essentially impossible for this to be an honest mistake, someone's been bullshitting you.
WatercressOld6094@reddit (OP)
It did seem like quite a shock to hear that after they'd got us to sign our forms and start process of sending the funds!
ItsDominare@reddit
It's absolute nonsense. Outrageous behaviour.
yearsofpractice@reddit
Hey OP. House buying veteran here. What you have to do is be dad/mum in this situation and just keep on chasing them until they play nicely.
They will be prioritising juicy corporate conveyancing contracts, not our £500-space-fillers.
Chase them chase them chase them. Buggers the lot of them.
Potential_Coast8072@reddit
Conveyancing solicitors are easily the most incompetent professionals I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with. Your experience is par for the course
escapingfromelba@reddit
It's the lowest tier of the legal job market I suspect and not something anyone ever set out in life to do so it's a shit show because to stick at it you need to do give a fuck.
vipros42@reddit
Yep, no one goes into law wanting to be a conveyancing solicitor.
zephyrmox@reddit
I am baffled. People here are saying it's normal for this to happen? A solicitor cannot set up completion without speaking to the other party? There will be a contract pack, enquiries, etc??? Conveyancers are incompetent but this just makes zero sense.
RoutineAbroad3486@reddit
Solicitors are the sole reason I don’t ever want to move again
LittleSadRufus@reddit
I moved house last year and it only happened because our estate agent was incredibly good at liaising with our seller's solicitor, us, and our buyer. Meanwhile I also forged direct contact with our buyer and seller to ensure we were all on the same page etc. it took hours of my time in the final weeks.
Often what the solicitors were saying the seller wanted was not what the seller themselves said they wanted. Communication and pressure on the solicitors was the only solution
Greavsie2001@reddit
Agree with previous comments. This is par for the course.
Our conveyancing solicitor routinely went on radio silence for two weeks at a time, adding at least six weeks to our sale. I also ended up on two blood pressure medications - a year later I’m down to one and hopefully will be off that soon.
zephyrmox@reddit
It is not par for the course for a completion date to be set and money to be transfered without the solicitors talking to each other. Not even remotely!
Greavsie2001@reddit
I didn’t say it was. I said delays caused by solicitors not doing their job was par for the course.
weeble182@reddit
Obviously not possible in all cases, but when we purchased our house, we got contact information for the sellers.
Being able to talk to each directly really helped us all when solicitors tried to play the blame game with the other party, as we could just text them directly and see what was true or not. It meant we could go back to the solicitors and refuse claims that paperwork hadn't been received etc
WatercressOld6094@reddit (OP)
Is there anything legally stopping us from communicating with the seller? The property is just down the road from us and I believe the seller is still there, and I was thinking of dropping a letter through the door just to give them our contact details in case they wanted to reach out to us. Would this be a faux par?
edent@reddit
You can communicate directly with the seller. We've done it with all of our purchases and sales.
They're also at liberty to say "please send questions via the estate agent or solicitors".
So, yes, knock on the door and speak to them face-to-face. Impress on them the urgency.
DameKumquat@reddit
No there isn't, and it's really useful to have each others contact details as you all try to work out who is being the stuck cog in the chain. Go for it - and give your details to their estate agent and as them to pass them on.
Last time we moved, we asked various local estate agents which solicitor they would recommend. They all said the same local firm, who were wonderful, but too many people use cheap conveyancers who take on too many cases.
No_Usual_572@reddit
No, there isn't.
weeble182@reddit
No idea I'm afraid.
I think we had a second viewing after we'd had our offer accepted and the estate agent couldn't make it, but the sellers told us to come round anyways. Ended up having a cuppa and a chat and swapped deets.
Was also really handy before moving day as they asked if we wanted them to leave stuff they were planning to take to the dump. Meant me didn't need to worry about a washing machine or wardrobes and we just bunged them £50.
edent@reddit
You need to speak to the estate agent. They're the ones working for the seller. They are the ones incentivised to push this along because they don't get paid unless the sale goes through.
Speak to the estate agent. Tell them to tell the vendor that you'll pull out of the purchase unless your solicitor hears back from their solicitor. Give them a deadline - say exchange by this Friday, or you'll walk.
The other solicitor doesn't work for you. So you need to get their clients to kick up a fuss.
WatercressOld6094@reddit (OP)
We keep asking our estate agent sales progressor for updates and the last we heard was last Wednesday when they told us they would be in touch later that day and never did. In a previous call they had mentioned that they had alot of completions happening this month and I suspect they aren't doing the work to chase this up because they're busy but its rather frustrating sitting in radio silence when it seemed both parties wanted to move quickly when we initially purchased.
Ill give them another call tomorrow with more of an ultimatum like you suggested. Thanks!
zephyrmox@reddit
I do not understand how it is remotely possible for you to have set a completion date and for them to have had zero contact with the sellers solicitors? There should be at least some enquiries? This is a massive red flag about your solicitors imo.
WatercressOld6094@reddit (OP)
Yeah that's what we find bizarre too. We don't understand how our mortgage funds were okay-ed to be released without that either. The money has actively left our accounts and the solicitor currently have 50k of our money. We were explicitly told it was all good to go and they set that completion date, and then they turned round and asked us where we got that date from because they hadn't spoken to other parties solicitors yet - but it was them that set that date? Bizarre stuff.
zephyrmox@reddit
I don't understand. There should be enquiries. This is not how this stuff works.
ben_jamin_h@reddit
We had the same thing when buying our place in summer 2024. Nothing happened for weeks, then everything happened in a few hours.
They're really good at getting shit done when they want to, they just don't ever seem to want to until the last second.
RoutineAbroad3486@reddit
I had the same experience on both occasions. Nothing and then all go, on my most recent move they rang out of the blue and asked if I can exchange/move within the week
No_Usual_572@reddit
Conveyancing solicitors can often have 25+ cases that they are working on at a time and unfortunately many regional firms aren't equipped to handle that volume of work even though they continue to take it on.
My suggestion would be to contact your own solicitor and explicitly tell them that they need to contact the firm and remind them of their duty to ensure that service is provided in a comptent and timely and manner (under the SRA regulations).
I'd also ask your own solicitor to re-provide you with your engagement letter and complaints procedure. This should be enough to kick them into gear as nobody wants an internal complaint let alone one to the SRA.
nutrition_nomad_@reddit
that sounds really frustrating, but it might just be a delay on the seller’s side rather than anything you did wrong so far. i’d keep chasing your solicitor for updates and ask if there’s any way to contact an alternative at the seller’s firm so things can move forward
Chelz91@reddit
In this exact situation… also at a loss for what to do
WatercressOld6094@reddit (OP)
It's a bit of a nightmare when we were being told we were so close to completing, hope you manage to get your situation sorted out!
Chelz91@reddit
At least you have eachother, I’m doing it solo and it is soooo stressful lol. I’m very close to a temper tantrum and pulling out. Hope yours is resolved sooner than later!!
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