Buying a home - Overpriced

[brillomaster]

wendy, you have PM

[GreenLandy]

I actually think solicitors should charge more as you might get decent service then. I think the reason they're generally crap is they have no time to do things.

 

think about it, an average bill to sell or buy is what, £800 ish. That's likely 4 hours of the solicitor and think about the amount that there is to do in 4 hours. Add in a few assistants and 4 hours goes down to 3 or maybe even 2. Nowhere near enough imo to do things well.

[Paul K]

When i bought my current house, all the legal stuff was done by a firm of conveyancers....still technically solicitors, but they only do property stuff.....last time i used a solicitor, he was always busy or in court with other legal stuff

Edited April 21, 2017 by Paul K

[sipar69]

If it's any use to anyone in here, the firm we used for the sale of Jane's flat and who are now dealing with our purchase are called Howells (based in Wales). They've been pretty good and always reply to emails/pick up the phone promptly.

[350zedd]

My solicitor was so bad I considered suing him, as he allowed me to buy a building plot in open countryside, sold with planning permission that turned out had NO pp.

It took me 5 yrs to sort it!!

[TomBorehamUK]

Alright you guys that have completed recently, don't rub it in

 

After further constant calls I finally spoke to my solicitor on thursday!

 

Turns out we're still waiting on the local search to come back which must be coming up to 3 weeks + now! Last time I spoke to her she felt we'd be comfortably be in by the end of the month, now she doesn't sound so sure...seeing as that's next week and all!

 

Have booked time off work for 8th may so fingers crossed we can get in by then!

[Ebized]

Have you checked to see if you can do a personal search at the LA concerned? Done in a day normally - there are people who do this for a relatively small fee.

 

Sadly it is all too common for solicitors to not do the searches as a priority, on the basis (questionable) that they want to see there is a good chance of the sale going through and all too often the searches throw up something that puts a spanner in the works.

 

https://www.estateag...ficial-searches

[TomBorehamUK]

Have you checked to see if you can do a personal search at the LA concerned? Done in a day normally - there are people who do this for a relatively small fee.

 

Sadly it is all too common for solicitors to not do the searches as a priority, on the basis (questionable) that they want to see there is a good chance of the sale going through and all too often the searches throw up something that puts a spanner in the works.

 

https://www.estateag...ficial-searches

 

Not something I'd considered but will look into, can this not take time for the search company to get an appointment for the search too?

 

Sellers solicitor & estate agent are now getting antsy as they can't get hold of mine at all.

[Ekona]

Speak to your solicitor and tell them if they don't comply within the next couple of days, you'll be instructing new ones to carry out the work instead. Old fashioned rocket up the arse.

[TomBorehamUK]

Speak to your solicitor and tell them if they don't comply within the next couple of days, you'll be instructing new ones to carry out the work instead. Old fashioned rocket up the arse.

 

At the minute, all we're waiting on is the local search to come back, after that there shouldn't be anything for her to hold up any further, I think changing solicitors with just that left would possibly delay things further.

 

The reason I've lost faith in her is just **** poor communication & a lackadaisical attitude to it all, I'm thinking if it continues I'll be asking for my case to be passed along to one of their other solicitors.

For now I'm being quite insistent on what i want her to do & when to phone me back by else I'm contacting her, actually getting her to answer the phone is a different question but that phone will ring off the hook until she does!

 

But again, now that she's finally dealt with the issues I've had, the last hurdle is lying with the local council

[Ekona]

Oh I wouldn't actually change at this point, but the threat might be enough to get them working properly.

[TomBorehamUK]

Well, I spoke to a really helpful lady at the council who's advised me that the search has been sent back to my solicitor on the 20th April!

Edited April 25, 2017 by TomBorehamUK

[Fodder]

I think I said in an earlier post that you have to pester solicitors constantly because if you don't then the person who is becomes the priority.

 

Hopefully she's cheked her in tray and found the searches now but one of the very first thing my solicitor did was the searches. I had them within a week or so of returning the pack.

 

Edit: keep pushing, you're doing the right thing by chasing... getting very close

Edited April 25, 2017 by Fodder

[Flex]

My solicitor was so bad I considered suing him, as he allowed me to buy a building plot in open countryside, sold with planning permission that turned out had NO pp.

It took me 5 yrs to sort it!!

 

Ouch!!

[Randy_Baton]

Someone put an off in for my sister house of £xxx,xxx.72p

 

We were laughing at the cheek of it so much we walked off and lost one of her kids for 10 minutes.

 

General consensus was they were probably trying to insinuate they were down to their last few pence. Didn't work...

[sipar69]

What he said. Pester constantly.

[TomBorehamUK]

Was supposed to exchange Friday, didn't happen, found out we need a FENSA certificate last minute, supposed to be sorted and exchange today but again didn't happen

Spoke to estate agent at close of doors today who said the vendors solicitor has dealt with that so fingers crossed for tomorrow - third times a charm!

[Jay Kay]

You really are dealing with poor solicitors! Who forgets things like that??? Good luck for tomorrow

[TomBorehamUK]

You really are dealing with poor solicitors! Who forgets things like that??? Good luck for tomorrow

 

Well it's not even that they forgot, It's the fact that they clearly didn't order the searches till last minute then tried to blame it on the local council who then told me they did it within 3 days of receiving it!

 

Certificate sorted now, Was ready to exchange but turns out my solicitor never did pass over the proposed exchange date & the seller wouldn't be ready till next Friday to complete when we planned on Monday, after some bartering we agreed on Wednesday as a compromise at 5 this afternoon.....so let's see if we can manage it tomorrow! Fourth times a charm?

 

Good news is my incompetent solicitor is on Annual leave & seems to have passed it over to someone that actually does their job!

 

[sipar69]

If it's any consolation, our purchase is being held up by rubbish solicitors, one of whom I'm sure has outright lied about receipt of emails/documents on at least two occasions.

Edited May 3, 2017 by sipar69

[TomBorehamUK]

If it's any consolation, our purchase is being held up by rubbish solicitors, one of whom I'm sure has outright lied about receipt of emails/documents on at least two occasions.

Fingers crossed things speed up soon for you!

Edited May 4, 2017 by TomBorehamUK

[Ekona]

No joy today then?

[TomBorehamUK]

No joy today then?

 

Oh, Yeah we exchanged today! Heart dropped when they sent a completion statement asking for £7500! Dopey solicitor had put me down as paying higher rate SDLT, got that sorted & exchanged this morning! Ready to move in Wednesday

[Ekona]

Huzzah! And about time too.

[sipar69]

No joy today then?

 

Oh, Yeah we exchanged today! Heart dropped when they sent a completion statement asking for £7500! Dopey solicitor had put me down as paying higher rate SDLT, got that sorted & exchanged this morning! Ready to move in Wednesday

 

Fantastic. Great news.