Solicitors dragging heels with conveyancing

has anyone else had problems with solicitors or licenced conveyancers dragging their heels with purchase and sales?? i have just sold a house, which is leasehold and the purchasers solicitors has taken the proverbial,with petty inquiries and with checking ground rent up to date etc etc.

Par for the course, gotta earn their fee's you know.

Can be frustrating at times, but it's gotta be done correctly and that does take a little more time than most people would like.

It happened to me took over 5 months I wasn't in s chain nor were the buyers the house was freehold and had been unoccupied you name it they wanted proof of everything I had to track down all sorts for them all the time still having to pay the council tax that really ticked me off!!!!

Oh don't get me started on this topic .....had the same problem selling a flat we owned in Chesterfield it cost me a business purchase because it dragged on so long, had to do most of the work ourselves (not easy when you live in another country).In the end i had to conclude that the solicitors are just a bunch of self serving ,thieving middle men!

has anyone else had problems with solicitors or licenced conveyancers dragging their heels with purchase and sales?? i have just sold a house, which is leasehold and the purchasers solicitors has taken the proverbial,with petty inquiries and with checking ground rent up to date etc etc.

Are you really citing the example of them checking the Ground Rent is up to date as being a petty enquiry? They don't work for you, they work for their customer, the Buyer. Why would the Buyer not want to know you have no Ground Rent arrears? Your expectations do seem unrealistic. Leasehold will be more work than freehold.

Oh don't get me started on this topic .....had the same problem selling a flat we owned in Chesterfield it cost me a business purchase because it dragged on so long, had to do most of the work ourselves (not easy when you live in another country).In the end i had to conclude that the solicitors are just a bunch of self serving ,thieving middle men!

Maybe they were just doing their job. You would soon have something to complain about if they completely missed some important detail in the contracts or failed to sufficiently investigate something.

What work exactly did you do yourselves? If its provide information, papers and sufficient instruction then unfortunately that is something that cannot be avoided. They can only act on what you tell them and on the information you provide to them.

Considering increasing numbers of conveyancing solicitors work on fixed fees these days there is very little incentive for them to "drag things out" at all. The quicker they get things done the quicker they get there money.

When will people understand there is process and procedure to be done. Responses, requests and investigations to await from other parties. Clarification, amendment and drafting to be signed off.

Unfortunate as it may be, that takes time but at the end of the day, that's what you are paying your lawyer to do.

Maybe its just me, but I would be very concerned if my solicitor turned around with a result in a moment. Make me wonder what they missed to get it done so quick.

No ....they drag it out ...

Are you really citing the example of them checking the Ground Rent is up to date as being a petty enquiry? They don't work for you, they work for their customer, the Buyer. Why would the Buyer not want to know you have no Ground Rent arrears? Your expectations do seem unrealistic. Leasehold will be more work than freehold.

i understand they have to do all the due diligence etc, but this was over such an insignificant amount that it was laughable! we even offered to lodge the amount less than £10 with them. we had other petty inquiries that made no difference when answered, i would name the firm involved but wont as its against SF rules.

But it wouldn't be a bad thing to name them, as it would be a recommendation (in spite of yourself, really) because every Buyer out there would like their Conveyancer to do all the due diligence and dot the Is and cross the Ts. However that might inconvenience the Vendor is truly not my concern - hopefully that makes sense without causing an argument?

I've bought a fair number of properties (never sold one) and I really like my Conveyancer to demonstrate effective attention-to-detail and ensure I don't miss anything. That said, I still had to remind the last one about small things like Retention for leasehold properties etc.. The Vendor's Conveyancer was not happy about that at all!

What you might consider petty (as the Vendor) could be considered a huge thing by the Buyer.

From what you say (unless I'm misreading) it looks your Ground Rent was not up to date, anyway, and you had to rectify once it was pointed-out?

I've just sold and bought all cash buyers involved so you would think pretty easy, we were at a point to exchange contracts on the sale of ours, but the solicitor dealing with the sale of the one we were purchasing hadn't even at that point made contact with my solicitor despite several attempts to contact them.

Ended up being 20 weeks for a straight forward purchase, the people we were buying off had already purchased something so there wasn't even an upward chain.

But it wouldn't be a bad thing to name them, as it would be a recommendation (in spite of yourself, really) because every Buyer out there would like their Conveyancer to do all the due diligence and dot the Is and cross the Ts. However that might inconvenience the Vendor is truly not my concern - hopefully that makes sense without causing an argument?

 

I've bought a fair number of properties (never sold one) and I really like my Conveyancer to demonstrate effective attention-to-detail and ensure I don't miss anything. That said, I still had to remind the last one about small things like Retention for leasehold properties etc.. The Vendor's Conveyancer was not happy about that at all!

 

What you might consider petty (as the Vendor) could be considered a huge thing by the Buyer.

 

From what you say (unless I'm misreading) it looks your Ground Rent was not up to date, anyway, and you had to rectify once it was pointed-out?

No you are wrong, the ground rent was actually paid up until sept 18, i just wanted to doubley reassure them, but no they were sticking out for proof for which was an insignificant amount in the great scheme of things, my own solicitors were also at fault for not requesting things from the freeholder early enough.

its got more to do with todays blame and claim culture than good old common sense.

...my own solicitors were also at fault for not requesting things from the freeholder early enough.

its got more to do with todays blame and claim culture than good old common sense.

There you go then... everyone's at fault, 'cept you.

In a way that's all kind of ironic, but there you go.

There you go.

Personally, I chase my own Solicitor on things I am concerned about. I have used various to do Conveyancing in the past and they'll all move along once you persist in chasing, and chasing... make yourself more important than everyone else, who's also paying a fixed fee of a few hundred quid, by virtue of being the noisiest. It's good to have a public rant every now and again.

Oh, and my best hint... I insist that any Conveyancer I work with accepts they'll do most things via email with me. I can't be doing with their predilection for posting stuff around. I tell them that on day one. I even put .jpg signatures into .doc files and turn them into a .pdf - they've never demurred (tho' some haven't seemed to like this brave new world!)...