My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

AIBU?

By ringing our solicitors every other day

73 replies

tvlover1234 · 31/07/2015 13:18

We're buying our first home and our solicitor is awful at updating and has even lied about things already being done. Eg searches stating they're done qnd back. Then we ring and she says oh now we have the water searches back were waiting on so and so.. When's he said all were back weeks ago??

AIBU ringing Monday, Wednesday and Friday for an update?

We're now waiting for our.mortgage provider to get back to her to confirm we do not need insolvency indemnity insurance. Which the mortgage provider told us and our broker verbally but solicitor still tried to charge us!

OP posts:
Report
Rangirl · 31/07/2015 13:28

I can understand your position but I think YABU
You need to be able to trust your solicitor to get on with it
If you can't you should really get a new solicitor
Could you speak to the solicitor and explain how you feel and agree a reporting schedule you are both happy with

Report
Glitteryarse · 31/07/2015 13:31

Get a new solicitor

Report
TheRealAmyLee · 31/07/2015 13:31

Houses take a long time to buy and sell (our last sale took 4 months). We used to ring once a week if there was no update. It's frustrating but they won't have anything to tell you if you ring that frequently and vast majority of stuff is reliant on someone else to do it.

Congratulations and good luck! I will be worth it I promise.

Report
Daffolil · 31/07/2015 13:31

Not at all in my experience, keep them on their toes. You are paying for their services. Just make sure you keep on top of the paperwork at your end to save any blushes.

Report
Waywarddaughter · 31/07/2015 13:35

I'm a solicitor, though not a conveyancer. Once a week is sufficient to see movement on a file and also to work out if you are receiving a good service. If you ring more often you are actually stopping the fee earner from doing any work! If you genuinely feel you are being treated badly, ask to speak to the head of department or complaints partner. Houses take a long time to sell, it's so stressful when it is your house move that you can forget that the solicitor is dealing with dozens of sales and purchases and that other solicitors on the other side take time to respond to their enquiries etc.

Report
tvlover1234 · 31/07/2015 13:36

Thnaks all.

We are now virtually waiting on nothing apart from confirmation of our mortgage provider that we don't need this silly insurance. She was very shocked that I had researched about the insurance and as I work with law trained people they looked into it for me and said I shouldn't hace to pay. Mortgage provider said no they do not need the insurance that the solicitor asked for although when she asked she said it was to go within the guidelines of mortgage provider!! Just another Rooney spinner we reckon.

Anyway it's too late to change solicitors now as all the work is practically done.

I was ringing once every 2 weeks but since she has lied a few times I've upped it to 2-3 times a week. We have no chain. They have no chain. They moved their stuff out of the house about a month and a half ago. It's just sat there empty and we're waiting on our solicitor.

It is so stressful and I really really need to get moved out. All of our stuff that we bought for house is in storage here there and everywhere and my parents and nan are driving me insane at home. I need my own place to relax. Not come home and feel I'm still working.

I never ever want to move house again after this. I'm full of spots through stress when I've never ever got spots. It's just ridiculous lol x

OP posts:
Report
AddToBasket · 31/07/2015 13:37

Email, don't ring.

Could you tell me if X has happened? I look forward to hearing from you shortly.

If no reply within 24 hrs, repeat. Draw attention to yesterday's email.

Always get a paper trail.

Report
tvlover1234 · 31/07/2015 13:38

Addtobasket they will not give us their email address to email them. They said all correspondence through phone or letter! Otherwise I would just pop them an email lmao c

OP posts:
Report
avocadotoast · 31/07/2015 13:38

I don't think YABU. Some solicitors are fucking rubbish.

When we were buying our house last year, our solicitor said "yep, fine to exchange next week, I'll get you some forms emailed over" and neglected to tell me he was going on holiday the next day! A junior member of staff ended up sorting everything and she was amazing. In hindsight I'd have chased him aaaall the time.

Report
atticusclaw · 31/07/2015 13:39

You'll be running up legal fees presumably unless you're on a fixed fee.

Report
DadfromUncle · 31/07/2015 13:41

YANBU but I laughed at people saying get another one. In my experience they are just as hopeless. It is definitely worth ringing as that's the only time any work will get done on your file - like you I fins leaving them alone tends to result in no action and blaming everyone else.

Thankfully last move was a while ago - solicitors paid proceeds of sale to me after divorce and house sale. It was about double expected (ex wife due half) so I rang to politely query - was put firmly in my place by very sniffy woman who assured me it was correct. It wasn't, they had paid it all to me in spite of clear instructions and my gentle enquiry.

They are the last bastion of closed shop uselessness. (All IMHO and experience of course)

Report
tvlover1234 · 31/07/2015 13:41

Attius they never said it cost to ring them. We were told 1500 for everything in our quote and that is all I will be paying. If she tried that on I will explain to her the numerous times she said stuff has been done and it wasn't.

Problem is she was fab with my parents selling and buying of houses. But for me and Oh she has been particularly difficult. I don't know whether it's cause were young.

OP posts:
Report
cruikshank · 31/07/2015 13:45

What do you think would be the point of ringing up three times a week? It won't make the things the solicitor is waiting for happen more quickly. All it will do is interrupt them in their work, when they will already be getting daily phone calls from estate agents in regard to every file they have. Each time that happens, they have to close one file, open another, look through it and give an update. It wastes time. If you add yourself to that list, it's just one more waste of time and like atticus says each phone call will be added to their billable hours so you will end up paying more. Emails are the same. Again, what is the use of a 'paper trail' in this instance? It just adds pointless activity to their workload.

Report
IPityThePontipines · 31/07/2015 13:48

I told mine they were being very slow and I wasn't happy. Got a shrug.

I gave them a few more days, rang back and told them that according to the Law Society they were meant to take any client dissatisfaction and possible complaints seriously, told them I felt they were being disingenuous about what they were doing. Got a firm completion date, which they stuck to.

Conveyancing is a massive con, IMO.

Report
AddToBasket · 31/07/2015 13:55

They will not give us their email address to email them. They said all correspondence through phone or letter!

I have never heard of this. Who are they?! Call them up and say that this isn't good enough. You need an email address. If they refuse to provide you with an email address say you will be complaining to the Law Society about their communication. Say bluntly that you are concerned that you have been told conflicting things and that you now require a paper trail. Please provide a partner's email address.

That's terrible customer service.

Report
Pedestriana · 31/07/2015 14:01

When we moved our solicitor was appalling. We had to ring pretty much every day. When we were near completion the solicitor dealing with us said she'd ring to confirm the date. We then had word from our buyer who was wondering why we'd not responded. Phoned solicitor to find she'd gone on holiday. There was A LOT of shouting.

Report
Janeymoo50 · 31/07/2015 14:04

I'm also experiencing the same thing, weeks without contact and yet I respond by return when sent questions to answer or need to send window certificates etc. Am selling my mums house, it's vacant possesion, probate granted etc, buyers in rented at moment, everyone wants to move on with it but just massive waits inbetween things.

Report
Luckystar1 · 31/07/2015 14:06

Conveyancing isn't a 'con', that is massively disrespectful to the huge number of solicitors who work their arses off day in day out. The problems occur when you instruct some tin pot firm because they are cheap as chips and you end up with a shit service conducted by non qualified staff but 'overseen' by someone qualified (God knows how qualified I should add!). These are the reason lawyers have got a bad name.

If you instruct a reputable firm, you will get good service provided by someone appropriately qualified for the complexity of your matter.

Constant calling and emailing won't necessarily speed things up (although to be fair, you'll piss them off enough to want rid of you so they might well hurry up).

Good luck, it is stressful.

Report
Zebedee74 · 31/07/2015 14:07

We've bought and sold twice in the last 6 months and my advice is to chase, regularly by email and phone.

If they say they're waiting for something, ask if they're received it, find out who they are waiting on and chase them directly too. In my experience, things get forgotten and missed all the time, and with the automated systems in place these days, the solicitor will only react when a box is ticked or button clicked. For example, I provided the same piece of paperwork 3 times and still when I chased for a completion date, was told they were waiting for it. Turned out someone hadn't updated the file.

If you have a decent estate agent (if that's not an oxymoron), you can ask them to chase too. This worked well for us as they dealt with this firm of Solicitors often so perhaps had more gravitas than us.

My view is that the solicitor is 'just' doing a job, but I have a lot more invested in the process, so for that reason I will do what I can to make things happen. I'm sure they loved me! Grin

Good luck OP and congratulations on your new home. Flowers

Report
cruikshank · 31/07/2015 14:10

Grin at the idea of the Law Society being remotely interested as to whether a solicitor has or gives out an email address. If that's how the firm does communication, and the OP is aware of this, it's fine. Letters also provide a 'paper trail', incidentally, although quite why the OP needs a 'paper trail' is unclear.

Report
bruffin · 31/07/2015 14:12

I don't think what you pay makes any difference whatsoever. The last time I sold/bought a house we were told something was urgent so would rush round and drop the papers at the solicitors only to find that they didn't touch it for days.
Last time I remortgaged I had to take some independent advice which I was told should only cost around £50. Literally reading a piece of paper to me and then I signed it.One solicitor wanted to charge me £700! I ended up paying about £150.

Report
cruikshank · 31/07/2015 14:20

It's not what you pay as such, but who you pay - which has a knock-on effect on the price. The companies that luckystar is talking about are generally cheaper, so that's where the correlation is. Incidentally, 'chasing' them won't do much good either, because they are mostly incompetent and unqualified and have poor systems in place, and no amount of phone calls or emails will make a difference to either of those problems. In the case of more 'traditional' firms, with a good conveyancer the inter-dependent nature of that type of work means that very often delays are outside of their control, so again it won't make a difference. With someone who is less good, it is unlikely to make a difference either - if you have someone who can't cope with the work/workload, daily phone calls aren't going to fix that. Like I said, it's a pointless activity. Just remind yourself that it is very, very unusual for a house move to fall through because of something that is solely within the solicitor's remit - something which people who piss and moan about the standard of conveyancing tend to forget.

Report

Newsletters you might like

Discover Exclusive Savings!

Sign up to our Money Saver newsletter now and receive exclusive deals and hot tips on where to find the biggest online bargains, tailored just for Mumsnetters.

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

Parent-Approved Gems Await!

Subscribe to our weekly Swears By newsletter and receive handpicked recommendations for parents, by parents, every Sunday.

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

AddToBasket · 31/07/2015 14:21

She needs a paper trail if she is being given conflicting information - she needs to be able to clarify what's what. Always have a paper trail, otherwise anyone can tell you anything.

Report
stuckatmydesk · 31/07/2015 14:38

I'm sorry you're having problems. I'm a conveyancing solicitor in an old fashioned high street firm. Most of our clients are local and we try our best to keep them updated by email or phone...otherwise clients just pop in as they're passing which can really disrupt work! Our main bugbear is not clients chasing but dealing with factory conveyancing firms....but that's another story. So YANBU to chase and I think I'd insist on an email address.

Report
specialsubject · 31/07/2015 14:41

you pay, you make the rules (within reason)

complain higher, demand an email address, keep a paper trail. Complain higher to whoever runs the firm.

lazy people need a kick or the sack.

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.