I am a conveyancing solicitor

[namechangedforanonreasons]

Hi
I am a conveyancing solicitor who is 2 years post qualified. I think there is lots of misconceptions about my job including how busy we are! AMA 😊

Do clients ever act against your advice? What is the worst thing a client of yours has done?

@NotJohnMajor I don't believe we are bad at talking to each other. Often, clients will expect us to chase the other solicitor for various things but we simply don't have the time (or you haven't reached the top of the to do list yet).

@BoudiccaOfSuburbia I have had so many outrageous requests! I have come to learn people can be very unreasonable and think because they are paying a fairly large amount of money they can do/say whatever they like. Only this week I had a buyer who wanted to simultaneously exchange and complete, and wanted the seller to remove all of their stuff from the property and then they wanted to re-inspect for damage. When I asked if they had any specific concerns (I.e damp etc) they just said no, it was there right to inspect the property whenever they wanted!!) Completely unfair and unreasonable.

Probate causes a lot of delays. You are typically waiting AT LEAST 16 weeks for the grant of probate to come in. Some solicitors will not do much work until it is received, so these transactions can take months and months.

@IThinkAdversePossessionApplies yes, I always check rightmove. When I report to my client and raise enquiries, I always check rightmove against the legal title to ensure the property is as described. As conveyancing solicitors do not visit the property, rightmove is invaluable to notice things such as walls that have been removed, or an extension which has been added without permission. I also use google street view and google earth to check if there is anything else of concern.

@ellenpartridge I am aware of docusign but as a firm we don't use it. I invite all of my clients to come into my office to sign the documents as it gives us a chance to meet face to face and for them to tell what dates they would like to exchange and complete and for us to go through the completed enquiries and see if they have any questions. If a client cannot come in and sign, we just post a copy out and they send it back, it's not really an issue.

@FunnysInLaJardin thank you. It is (often) a thankless task and very stressful. 4 weeks between receiving instructions and completing sounds like a dream! For a 200k purchase I would charge £1200 + VAT + Disbursements so approx 2k all in.

@NearlyHeadlessNick I applied for a role at my firm as it is local to me and they offered me the job in either probate or conveyancing, so I went with that. I do actually do probate as well now (probably a 80:20 split).

@NearlyHeadlessNick the Partners are superficially supportive. However, I have a large caseload and don't particularly want to take on anymore work, but have to for the good of the firm. This means I work 8-5.30 and often do work from 9-12 at night too, just to keep on top of things.

@Riva5784 yes, I have had a few clients act against my professional advice. I ask them to come in and sign a disclaimer to say they fully understand the risks and have chosen to proceed anyway. Ultimately, it's for the client to decide but I have had a few clients recently where I have declined to continue to act for various reasons.

Can I send you a pm, op?

Hi I'm selling and buying at the moment and using same conveyancer for both. The one recommended by the EA I'm selling through.
I'm selling to a FTB and buying from a landlord and the property is vacant. How long approx will it all take? All three of us are hoping for a quick completion?
My conveyancer uses an on line portal and I can never get through on the phone! I've completed signed and returned, by post everything that's been requested.

I bought a dilapidated property 3 years ago. Builders in for the first year to get it liveable. Didn't seek any statutory permissions, but didn't extend or change overall character. Kept the roof. But did knock two rooms together and instated an rsj to do it. Also re-plumbed and re-wired. New windows, new boiler, new kitchen, moved a bathroom.

I don't plan to sell (maybe ever!) but if I did, will the lack of stat permissions always be a problem? I seem to remember being asked when selling my previous house if any work had been carried out 'in the last 10 years'.

Im terrified of asking council for retro approvals as I have run out of money so can't afford to do any remedial work!!

@MovingToPlan yes that's fine.

@sawnotseen, technically speaking it should be fairly quick (6 weeks). However, until the legal title of each property is reviewed, it is difficult to give a timescale with much certainty. I have a similarly small chain at the moment but it has come to light one of the properties has only possessory title and this has delayed things by at least a month.

It sounds as if the EA has referred you to the solicitor via a third party, such as Team Property Services. The online portals are difficult our end and do not update as the transaction progresses. I would always recommend coming direct (rather than via the estate agent).

Op, do you work for a conveyancing factory?

Do you pay for referrals?

I am surprised you have acted for different people in the same chain. How is that not a conflict of interest?

@propertyquery generally speaking, the local authority can take enforcement action 12 months after the works for lack of building regs and 10 years for planning permission. What you describe is very common (works done without the required permissions). If I was acting for the buyer of your property, my advice would be for them to have a full structural survey to assess the structural integrity of the property and the seller to provide an indemnity insurance against any (unlikely) enforcement action if within the timescales above.

Therefore, it won't prevent you from selling, but may cost you a bit extra for the indemnity and might delay things slightly- but not significantly.

@pilates no, I do not work for a conveyancing factory. Our firm is very old and respected in our local area.

We do pay for referrals from estate agents.

It is not a conflict to act for different clients in the same chain. Often, I am not actually aware I'm in the chain more than once until the chain is complete and I begin work. It is a conflict for our firm to act for both the seller and buyer (although we can still do so with their authority- but this is not ideal) and clearly I could not act for both buyer and seller.

As our firm is used by most people in our local area, it is inevitable that we end up in the chain more than once sometimes! It actually helps as I can make sure it is all aligned to exchange and complete at the same time.

You said up thread that you wouldn't recommend because it is dull and doesn't pay particularly well ( in the field of law). You've also said it's stressful and you work extra hours often. Why are you doing it? Could you not move into another area of law or is it not that easy? How did you end up in conveyancing?

Thank you OP.
My conveyancer hasn't even requested a searches fee for the one I'm buying nor sent me the fixtures and fittings and it's been three weeks so I'm getting worried!

@24Seconds2Go for right now it works logistically. I am local to my children and can quickly nip out for assemblies/star of the week etc. I think all legal work is stressful but conveyancing is not as stressful as family or crime . It's also what I know, I honestly don't have the energy right now to move into something else or a different area, maybe when my children are older.

Why domestic comveyancing when you are a qualified solicitor?

Why do you take on too much work and slow things down by doing so?

Wouldn't everyone be happier if you took on less and did it more promptly?

@sawnotseen that is not good at all. I personally would disinstruct and reinstruct another solicitor. I would send you the documents the day of instruction and once I had received your initial funds would order your searches (which take around 3 weeks and then need to be reviewed and enquiries raised). Best to get rid of an incompetent solicitor now rather than them cause issues and delay throughout the entire process.

@Noras as domestic conveyancing requires a solicitor the same as commercial conveyancing?

@HappyHolidai I would rather take on less work and do a quicker (and better) job. In an ideal world I would have half the case load I currently do, so I can progress the matters much more quickly. I have said this to the partners of the firm but ultimately the volume of my case load is their decision.

Are you ever proactive and chase things for yourself?

Or do you write out a letter to the 3rd party then put the file to one side until they reply? Never actually follow up.

I'll be honest in several house sales and purchases we have never had a positive experience with a solicitor.

The classic line most recently was when DH was selling his parents house to pay for care home fees. He drove a 300 mile round trip to pick up some documents and hand delivered them to the solicitor. Six weeks later nothing had happened so he phoned to find out why. Her response was 'well nobody chased me' fucks sake. Cue a phone call at the start and end of every week. Whilst DH was having to manage two parents with increasing dementia symptoms.

So have we been unlucky 5 times or is it standard practice to be reactive rather than proactive?

Thanks again@namechangedforanonreasons
I'm feeling that all they want to do is deal with my sale as they have a relationship with the EA and not bothered about my purchase.

My son frustrated as numerous buyers pulled out which meant house had to be readvertised and he has had to pay the costs after trying to sell the last year he has decided he will stay where he is.

I suggest 1k deposit is given to the seller by the buyer When offer is accepted. This way the seller doesn't have to pay out of his own pocket any fees if the buyer changes his mind . My son has had to pay out a lot of money when his buyers opted out just because they could .

A non refundable deposit would ease financial pressure on the seller if buyer pulls out . What are your thoughts on this please?

Thankyou

@whiteroseredrose yes, I do chase things and I am proactive. However, once I have written to a third party inevitably the file does go to the side so I can also deal with other files, and it may be a little while before I follow up. Depending on who the third party is depends on when I chase it up. If it is a management company which I know from experience takes several weeks to respond, I am not going to chase until I would have expected to hear from them. Clearly, in your case it should have been chased and I think anything left for six weeks without chasing is bad service to be honest.

@Blueglazzier I don't think the non refundable deposit would particularly help. In my experience, most of the time people pull out as they have not been made aware of an issue by the Estate Agent. I think if EA were regulated and once a property is known to have an issue (such as a problem with the legal title, boundaries etc) this should be described in the property particulars. I understand this may not be the issue in your son's case but I would ask for feedback as to why each person pulled out. It is also very frustrating for us when a buyer pulls out as we have carried out a lot of the legal work for nothing (and I do keep my charge for the legal work to a minimum).

Thank you so much. I have been swithering about whether to own up and ask for retrospective approvals but i am not planning to sell and have heard some horror stories about very pedantic BC officers locally. So I think I'll just risk it and hope nothing unexpected forces me to sell. It's my dream home.

With the impact of AI are you not worried that your job won’t exist in 10 years time?

What’s the most interesting legal thing you have dealt with so far in your career?