Our buyer's solicitors are terrible

[LMonkey]

Just feeling so stressed and upset over this. We are selling our shared ownership flat to move to somewhere bigger as we now have 2 kiddies. A buyer was found via the housing association 3 months ago. The buyer's solicitors, it turns out, are absolutely the WORST firm you could ever hope to deal with. They have LITERALLY done NOTHING for the last 3 months. We have been fairly relaxed about it until recently but there is now a shared ownership house allocated to us which is our dream house (we can only afford shared ownership and they rarely crop up where we live). The sellers of this house are moving to another SO new build and the completion date in mind for this (as per the housing association who don't want it going on for too long) is end of Jan. It is our buyer's solicitors who are holding everything up. Our buyer has mental health issues and appears to not be chasing them up, or better still, realising she is with a totally shite firm and going elsewhere.

I just don't know what to do. I'm chasing up my solicitor, who I trust is doing what she can. I'm chasing the housing association who are apparently chasing things up too but I just don't think they're cracking the whip enough.. I am losing sympathy with our buyer, as if everything falls through and we lose our house and our seller loses their house it is down to her picking a stupid rubbish firm at the opposite end of the country based on how cheap they are. I've just depressed myself even more by looking at the Google reviews. God there really is no hope.

My DS turns 3 next week and I so want to be a happy mummy and enjoy the festive season but I can't help but feel so depressed about it all. If I could contact the solicitors and give them a good bollocking myself then I would but obviously not allowed.

Anyone know if there's ANYTHING I can do?

[namechangedtoday15]

There is little you can do about it so not worth getting stressed. You can perhaps ask the Housing Association to intervene but there may be things you don't know about. Shared ownership transactions are not straight forward either.

If your buyer has mental health problems it may be that her solicitors need to meet with her to go through documents to make sure she understands what her obligations are, or there are other obstacles in the way to going things done as quickly as you want. Other than issue deadlines, which may backfire if the buyer cannot meet them, then you really can't do much. You really need to find a way to alleviate the stress, its beyond your control, especially if its spoiling your DS' birthday and Christmas.

[lalalonglegs]

Was there anyone else interested in your flat apart from this buyer? Can the HA or estate agency (if one was involved) put out feelers to that person? Do you have contact details for your buyer so you can talk to her in person and see if you can, ahem, help her move things along? The only real thing you can do apart from that is set deadlines and threaten to withdraw if they aren't met but that is high risk.

[LMonkey]

I appreciate your replies however namechangedtoday I think not getting stressed is easier said than done! The HA have been intervening but just not doing enough or getting any results. The buyers solicitors just aren't doing anything. Period. If anything they are abusing the fact that this woman has mental health issues and have just totally ignored her case. There has been NO communication from the buyers solicitor to my solicitor.

lala there wasn't anyone else who applied for our flat unfortunately. So many viewings, mainly through estate agents rather than HA but only one actual application. No contact details for her, which is probably best as wouldn't want to be held responsible for saying the wrong thing if I lost my patience tbh. I am starting to head towards threatening to withdraw. Could end up going horribly wrong though

[lalalonglegs]

I think it might be worth letting her know that you are thinking of moving out unless she can accommodate the rest of the chain and see if that chivvies her along. Don't threaten anything drastic unless you are prepared to follow it through otherwise you just end up backing yourself into a corner.

[LMonkey]

That's what I'm going to try to do however as I'm not in direct contact with her it's a matter of going through the HA who I think due to her mental health issues pussy-foot around her and probably aren't as harsh with her as they would normally be .

[Quodlibet]

Are you using an estate agent? When I briefly worked for an estate agent it was a given part of the role that you had to spent a fair bit of time ringing up lazy solicitors to chivvy them on otherwise they'd do nothing. Try ringing the agent and making threats to pull out?

[namechangedtoday15]

I think you're being quite disrespectful OP saying things like "pussy foot around her". You know nothing of her situation, neither does your solicitor. Presumably the HA does, and that is the reason for their approach. I understand its a stressful time but as I said earlier, other than threatening to pull out, there is very little you can do.

[LMonkey]

namechanged there are 3 parties in this chain. Our buyer who has her issues, us, who have 2 children and are desperately trying to get our family home, and our seller who is desperate to move closer to her daughter as she is getting older. NO ONE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANYONE ELSE. We all have very important reasons for needing to move and we all have to do our bit in the process i.e. chasing our solicitors, making sure progress is made. She is failing to do this and as much as I have sympathy to a certain degree and have been extremely patient until now, if this woman and her rubbish solicitors ruin our chances of getting our home (and its very unlikely we'll get somewhere like this again) and ruins our seller's chances of getting her home, sorry but I won't be so sympathetic. Its not just about her.

I actually do know quite a lot about her situation as I showed her round the flat myself and she gave me practically her entire life story in about 10 minutes. She's a very open lady and is also extremely open with the HA and is on the phone to them all the time, so they say.

I dont think i am being disrespectful, and i think that is a typical comment from someone giving an opinion without actually putting yourself in my situation.

[LMonkey]

Quod the housing association are in place of the estate agents, they found the buyer.

[namechangedtoday15]

I didn't say your buyer was more important than anyone else, no need for the capital letters. I just said that using phrases like "pussy footing" about someone with mental health issues is disrespectful. It is. Regardless of your position or anyone else's. You asked for advice on what you can do. As a lawyer I said there is very little you can do. Losing your temper, spoiling your DS' bday or posting in shouty capitals about a "typical comment" without appreciating your position isn't going to help.

[Spickle]

Have you asked your solicitor what the delay is? It could be that they've not responded to enquiries that your buyer's solicitors have raised. Shared Ownership and Leasehold properties do take longer than freehold properties because they are more complicated. Is there a leasehold pack to be provided, because this can take ages to be sent to the buyer's solicitors. Solicitors don't really need their clients "chasing them up all the time", as they do know their job a lot better than their clients do.

[LMonkey]

Well obviously I'm used to slightly more constructive advice when I use mumsnet. Telling someone plainly "there is little point in getting stressed" and "there's not much you can do about it" is right up there with saying to a toddler "don't be afraid of the dark" or saying "get over him" to a recently dumped teenager. I didn't say I would be "spoiling" my DS's birthday, in fact I find that comment very offensive and quite frankly wankery - there we go - is italics any better for you? I was saying that I would love to fully enjoy his birthday and the festive season. I was posting in capitals to stress an important point. It worries me that a lawyer isn't intelligent enough to consider that.

What is so disrespectful about the term pussy footing? Tiptoeing, walking on eggshells, treading softly if you prefer - this is what the HA are doing with her - fact. They don't treat everyone like this.

Dictionary definition of pussy footing: to avoid making a definite decision or stating a definite opinion because of fear, doubt etc/to tread or move warily or stealthily.

[LMonkey]

spickle my solicitor is very open about what the delay is. She has quite literally not received any form of communication from them, no enquiries, zilch. She had one very short email a few weeks ago saying something like they'd be in touch soon and she was then hoping things would start to happen, but still nothing. Its because the solicitors are absolutely terrible, looking at the Google reviews has confirmed this to me. Everyone says the same thing. I know SO properties take longer, I remember from when we bought our place. But there should have been some kind of progression by now.

Thanks for your constructive comment btw

[MummaGiles]

I would get your solicitor to lay down some deadlines for them actually progressing things, on the threat that you will pull out if not adhered to.

[Pipnposy]

I can sympathise because we are being held up by awful solicitors too (in our case it's our buyers' buyers' solicitors). Our buyers are chasing, both estate agents are chasing, my and our buyers' solicitors are chasing (these solicitors are both great!) and yet they sit on something as simple as a fax for literally weeks. I have been so stressed but have now got to the point where I've realised there is nothing I can personally do (short of making empty threats to pull out of the sale). I'm focussing on having a nice Christmas and trying not to think about it too much, which is easier said than done as it's on my mind ALL the time! Good luck!

[LMonkey]

Thanks pipnposy, it is reassuring hearing someone else in a similar position. Good luck to you too and I hope that good things start to happen for us both soon!