Solicitors

[SilverSaloon]

hi.....

Just wondering; how would u feel if the solicitor who was dealing with the sale of your house f***ed off on holiday for 3 weeks (leaveing 1 week before move-in date) without telling you....

worst thing about it is last we heard from him was that he was having problems dealing with getting the titles from our solicitors who dealt with our mortgage move..... i phoned up after a week to see if there had been any update and found he has gone, not to return until 1 week before we are supposed to exchange and move in.... - we havnt even sorted our missives yet!!

not impressed with the service so far....

Makes me wonder if i hadnt rang them up today when i would actually hear anything....

lets hope the person who is dealing with his work when he is away is going to better than him...

i suppose its too late now (and would be expensive) to drop them and find another solicitor????

 

[pammy]

I would be steaming!!! Has his caseload not been allocated to someone else? Does he have an assistant who does the donkey work for him?

I'd be hopping though.

 

[glojo]

If no one has taken over your moving then I would Not very impressed AT ALL.

I suppose everyone is entitled to a holiday and it is plain straight forward good manners for this person to simply let you know they will be away for 'X' amount of time and 'B' will be available to deal with any queries or problems???

Unfortunately we all have different standards of what is, or is not acceptable behaviour. I would certainly let them know of your displeasure.

Could you please tell me what a 'missive' is?

Good luck,
John

 

[dougal74]

This sounds very poor if your matters have not been properly handed over to an alternate at the firm. Speak to the firm in question and suggest that you might talk to the Law Society to find out if this is common practice. You'll probably get a call back from a paralegal at the firm within the hour!

 

[imadoofus]

It's exactly what happened to me 15 years ago. I'd sold my previous house, and the people I was buying from were buying from a lady who was going into a retirement home, so there were only two of us in the chain.

The other people had a bridging loan because they'd had to complete on the old lady's house first, and then my solicitor went on holiday for four weeks, without telling anyone. The bank foreclosed on the bridging loan, and the other people then tried to sue me. I threatened my solicitor, via his office (and he mysteriously came back from holiday pretty sharpish), and he compensated my sellers for their financial loss.

I never paid the bill he sent me when the purchase was finally completed, and he never chased for it...

pj

 

[SilverSaloon]

Had my phonecall returned;

new person dealing with my move seems to be some sort of assistant. She said she would respond to any correspondance from our buyer or our seller but she said that it wouldnt move as quickly as it would if the solicitor was there. she said she would get a solictor to write up some stuff if we get our titles back to get things moving.... so SHE isnt a solictor then.... hmmmm (i start to think why am i paying solictors fees...) She says he left yesterday with just some post-it notes on the file saying what to do next.

Whole thing is that he was having problems getting the titles for our house.... so we need to know if he has got them yet.... he has sent a letter requesting them, women says we should get them back next week.

i politely said "so u will be ringing me when the titles come in?" and exaplained i am worried and just want to know everything is ok - she came back with a rude reply saying "dont put words into my mouth". Didnt impress me much.

She also kept saying that lots of people go on holiday this time of year and the other solictors will know this....

i am now really worried that if the whole thing isnt handled well, the other two solictors (acting for my buyer, and the one acting for our seller) will think we are "faffing around" and increase the risk of them pulling out of the deal.

I dont want to loose out on the house we want because of crappy solictors. So far i have been unimpressed with the guy who went on holiday - never returns my calls and is never there in the 1st place....

they keep on telling me that 4th August is a LONG time away and is plenty of time for things to get sorted. But solictor is back on 21st June, so that only leaves 2 weeks to sort stuff out properly.....

i am pretty pissed off now, unimpressed, and wouldnt ever recommend these guys to anyone. I understand that people go on holiday but it would have been nice to of got a letter from him stating when he will be back and who i can contact at the firm if i need to etc. To phone up, ask for him, and get told "oh, he is on holiday until middle of next month", was a total shock & got me pretty wound up.

 

[imadoofus]

so SHE isnt a solictor then.... hmmmm (i start to think why am i paying solictors fees...)

She might be a Legal Executive, or an articled clerk. She might be a legal assistant. You will be charged accordingly (assuming you've not got a fixed-price agreement).

Most solicitors delegate the donkey work. Conveyancing (in Scotland as well as England) is, AFAIK, pretty standard stuff, so the minions do the leg-work.

PJ

 

[Satch]

Find out who the Senior Partner is. Complain.

 

[glojo]

we havnt even sorted our missives yet!!

I've just found out what a missive is

This forum is certainly a place to get edu-macated.

I'll now have to write an official, formal or long letter

Perhaps you could write a missive to the senior partner?

John

 

[Ashley]

Find out who the Senior Partner is. Complain.

They will have a snr or partner that will handle all complaints. Ask for a time/cost break down at the end if you are not happy with the costs.

 

[SilverSaloon]

They will have a snr or partner that will handle all complaints. Ask for a time/cost break down at the end if you are not happy with the costs.

im gonna see what they will do once the deeds come in; should be mid-next week.....

 

[Ashley]

your local courts will have set fees for the grades (for awarding costs), I know this being a non court matter this does not apply but it will give you an idea in the differences in fee earners in your area. There are no scales that regulate non-court work, but the charges must be fair and reasonable.

 

[dchaddah]

Solicitors are very annoying, a very good friend of mine is a solicitor and once told me that most straight forward house purchases can actually be done within 3-4 days if the solicitors want and it has been done for me in the past. (48hrs) At most it would take is 10days as most documents are available online if the solicitor wishes.

The reason they drag thier heels is to justify the cost!!

 

[SilverSaloon]

Solicitors are very annoying, a very good friend of mine is a solicitor and once told me that most straight forward house purchases can actually be done within 3-4 days if the solicitors want and it has been done for me in the past. (48hrs) At most it would take is 10days as most documents are available online if the solicitor wishes.

The reason they drag thier heels is to justify the cost!!

i can well believe it!!

 

[Martin clk]

I honestly wouldnt worry about it although I know exactly how you feel. He'll come back from his hols and it'll be all sorted out.

I assume all parties have signed missives? If not, push for you're buyer to sign theirs. Once they're signed, it's almost impossible to withdraw from the sale without incurring some serious expense.

On a seperate issue, where's good round Edinburgh for me to get the CLK serviced? I've a Service A coming up, what should I expect that to sting me by?

 

[SG CL500]

Just wondering; how would u feel ... f***ed off

you answered your own question ... just didnt realise it

to be honest though (assuming it is a simple case) conveyancing is bog standard stuff and farmed down to the lowest common denominator anyway (i.e. the solicitor would have got whoever spoke with you to do the work anyway - no change with her on holiday)

 

[Pietre]

All deeds from Land Registry are digital now, this was changed 3 years ago, so they should be instantly transferred.

 

[SilverSaloon]

I honestly wouldnt worry about it although I know exactly how you feel. He'll come back from his hols and it'll be all sorted out.

I assume all parties have signed missives? If not, push for you're buyer to sign theirs. Once they're signed, it's almost impossible to withdraw from the sale without incurring some serious expense.

On a seperate issue, where's good round Edinburgh for me to get the CLK serviced? I've a Service A coming up, what should I expect that to sting me by?

missives cannot be completed until the titles are sorted - thats the problem....

there is:
http://www.deutschmarque.co.uk/welcomemain.html

for your clk

thanks!

 

[jwarren]

Not all solicitors are bad, most conveyances are relatively straightforward - until you fall into difficulties - such as Building Societies failing to send deeds or final redemption figures, clients changing minds over this and that or not communicating their intentions until the last moment, getting again the lenders to ensure that money is transferred on time, etc etc etc.

The solicitor is working for you, remember that, I never forget that in my practice and would rather sit down with an individual and go through the problem face to face and establish the route cause. It was bad communication not to inform you that he/she would be away on holiday and whom would be undertaking your conveyance whilst they were away and what you would expect to happen. I would sincerely make your complaint known to the senior partner at the level of service received and rudeness by the staff member.

Also, a point to note, Legal Executives are legally qualified and undertake valuable work, and are fee earners in their own rights, they are not the bottom of the pile!!!!

Bring on the day when conveyancing can be undertaken quicker, we dont want to hold things up, but, do act in your interest, so if it takes a bit longer to protect the biggest purchase in your life then so be it, it is not a money grabbing exercise!!

Sorry, to hear the dis-service you have received, its a buyers market for legal services, shop around and get recommendations next time.

 

[SilverSaloon]

what a mess....

phone call from guy we are buying from - he is pi$$ed off that nothing has been sorted & house will be back on market on friday...

looks like we may loose the house because of the solicitor!!

going to go there personally 9am tommorow demanding that they sort out the missives NOW - ie today or we will be instructing new solictor and they can sing for any fees.

i am sooooo hacked off.... we are also going to try to get the guy to hold out on putting it back onto the market for a few days to give us more time.... but he was sooo annoyed so doubt he will.

looked online and yes u can get copies of the deeds online within 24 hours - solictor has stalled for 3 weeks saying he cannt get them!!!

rrrahhhh!!!

any advice before i attack?