So close to exchanging but stuck waiting on seller's solicitor to shift his backside! Anything we can do???

[Lottapianos]

Hi all, the saga continues! 4 months we've been trying to buy this damn flat and now we are so close. Our solicitor needs some info from seller's solicitor, like confirmation of renewal of the Buildings Insurance, and a few other minor queries. He contacted the other solicitor nearly 2 weeks ago to ask for this info - nothing. He phoned him last week to ask what was going on and got a load of 'oh yeah yeah, they're on my desk, haven't got around to it yet'. His pratting around is the reason we still haven't exchanged 4 months on and me and DP are at the end of our ropes with it all.

All parties have agreed a completion date of 6 January. With Christmas coming up, we absolutely have to exchange this week. We have to move our of our current rental flat on 13 January so this is all getting way too close for comfort. We have the estate agent on the case, he's supposed to be chasing the seller's solicitor as well. Is there anything else we can do? How shirty do we get with our own solicitor, or is there also a limit to what he can do? If it were me, I would be buttonholing the other solicitor for a date when he will return the answers to these queries, but solicitors don't seem to work that way, they're all far too cosy with each other.

All advice gratefully received

[starfish4]

Phone your solicitor up and ask if he/she has heard yet. If not, ask them to chase today. Also, have you had any contact with the sellers? If so, contact them and tell them you understand your solicitor is waiting on theirs to exchange. When I sold my flat a few years ago, the purchaser phoned me asking if we'd still be able to complete four days later. Told him no, as his solicitor hadn't been in touch with mine and his had been unable to take my solicitor's calls. Things were shaken up that day as the purchaser hit the roof with his own solicitor and we completed seven days later.

[Lottapianos]

Thanks starfish. No direct contact with sellers but have been making them aware of the situation via estate agent. Of course, that depends on the estate agent doing what he's supposed to do. Seller must be freaking out too. Sick of the flipping lot of them!

Will hassle our solicitor who will in turn hassle the seller's solicitor - hopefully

[EwanHoozami]

no advice, but buckets of sympathy from one in the same boat.

We were supposed to exchange last week only to discover that the vendors sols "can't pass on to us" the paperwork to prove they own the house

feckinell.

[janeyjampot]

Another in the same boat... Miserable, isn't it?

No one seems to be communicating. Our solicitors can never be reached, there's a planning issue and our estate agent seems to have forgotten that we're the customers as he hassles us relentlessly on behalf of our buyers... .

[Lottapianos]

Why are solicitors and estate agents so utterly shit? Its enough to drive you insane. The good news is that thanks to pressure from us, the seller, our solicitor AND the estate agent (FFS) documents have finally been produced and we're hoping to exchange today. Will believe it when it happens but at least its progress.

Good luck to you two - hope it all gets sorted very soon x

[BrownSauceSandwich]

Call your solicitor and annoy them every day. Then they will phone sellers solicitor and annoy them every day. Try the same with the estate agent so that, via the seller, they too can pester the lazy bugger. That way everybody in the process is quite clear that you're getting arsey about the hold up, and that you're going to be as inconvenient to all of them as possible until it's resolved.

If you can't get hold of people, try faxing them. It's such an unusual measure these days, it might just wake them up.