To ask....do solicitors f***ing realise how there shit work Impacts on real peoples lives

[Mightbemiddleaged]

....because I have been sobbing my heart out all day as the house we have been desperately waiting to move into for five months has now fallen through due to the complete ineptitude of all the solicitors involved.

There was a small legal issue to resolve wrt our sale and it can and should have taken no longer than a month.

Four months later and now no-one wil even respond to our requests for updates or try to hurry the fuck along on our behalf. The vendors of the house we should be buying have lost patience and pulled out, wo can blame them.

It's taken 15 months to get this far from putting house on the market and I literally cannot face the thought of going through this again. I actually feel desperate today and like I'm on the edge of some sort of breakdown.

I actually hate and despise these people the lazy heartless bastards

[makeourfuture]

In the days of Equity and Forms of Action, processes could stretch for decades.

[Witchitywoo]

It took 6 months for my remortgage to be sorted thanks to an incompetent legal firm that the bank used, as is their policy. It was a simple enough procedure. Take one name off the title deeds and pay out a few grand to the ex. 6 months!! My conveyancer gave me a time line of their contact with said legal firm and it took 4 weeks for them just to acknowledge an information request. See if you can get details of all contact, requests etc then proceed with a complaint.

[BusyBeez99]

Sorry didn't notice the date!

[Sparklingbrook]

I think it's probably all sorted by now.

[BusyBeez99]

I'm a boundary expert surveyor and regularly get called up by estate agents to sort out a boundary issue at short notice. Sometimes I just can't fit it in for a few weeks. Then it's another week for
The analysis and to send it out. Then the solicitors need to look at it and deal with land registry. Land registry can take in excess of 4 weeks to deal with things

4 months does sound excessive though. Vendors silly to pull out so close to the finishing post and they will have to sort this issue out before putting on market again in any case.

Do you have the vendors phone number? Sometimes a call vendor to purchaser sorts it all out

[Sparklingbrook]

Why did you resurrect this 4 year old thread Craig? What were you searching for?

[Toadinthehole]

I think Mr Slant the zombie wants his thread back.

[Fleta]

I'm a solicitor and a Conveyancer.

I am good at my job. But you do realise the amount of time I become the subject of vile abuse because of things outside my control?

For example, clients moving in and rubbish hasn't been cleared, items being taken that were supposed to be left.

I treat each and every one of my clients properly. And IME there is absolutely not such thing as "just a boundary issue"

[TiredFeet]

Totally agree with you ohno and I seem to spend far more time chasing clients for stuff than vice versa. But equally I think it is fair to advise people to take ownership of their matters and if they have got a solicitor who doesn't appear to do much then to do something about it. Also I think it is important for people to realise their role in keeping things moving; dh couldn't seem to grasp the connection between him sitting on paperwork and the transaction moving slowly...

[Twilightsparklesmama]

I know it's been answered but in response to the point about interest, we are subject to very strict rules regarding money. The SRA accounts rules provide that solicitors must account to clients for interest where it is fair and reasonable to do so. Previous rules allowed solicitors to keep amounts below £20, the firm must have a written policy on interest. In my firm money to be held for a long period is kept in a seperate deposit account all interest is paid to the client. If its kept for a short period in client account our systems do an interest calculation which we pay to clients.

[ohnoherewego]

I just don't accept that the majority of solicitors are reactive rather than proactive, not least because it would be just such an incredibly stressful way of working. Stress rises when you have little control over your day. It is considerably less if you are pro active and progress matters. Why would anyone want to piss off their clients so much there was no joy in the relationship and they just rang up and shouted at them? I am amazed. I have 20 plus years PQE in both large and small firms and have run large departments. I have never met anyone who was purely reactive apart from a couple who were not coping with life generally because of outside stressors.

[PeppermintPasty]

Nailed it again mrsmalcolm. And good point skaen. Exactly right!!

[TiredFeet]

As this thread has become generalised now, I just have to say, I am a solicitor although in-house in a specialised area. We recently appointed a conveyancing solicitor and dh was moaning when I explained the likely timescales for the transaction, as he couldn't see how it needed to take that long. But then when we got the paperwork I did my bit and put it all there for him to look through and he just sat ignoring it! He couldn't see the connection between him delaying looking at the paperwork and the length of the transaction! Ffs! So yes, if you want your matter progressing, send back paperwork etc asap and also chase regularly for updates. If they don't respond then of course escalate and complain to their manager, don't just sit around for weeks wondering! There are some rubbish solicitors of course, but I also come across lots of very conscientious ones.

[Alisvolatpropiis]

grovel

Probate is a fairly difficult area of law to make a pleasant experience due to it's nature. Feeling the solicitors aren't the best no doubt compounds it.

Sorry you have had unpleasant experiences at already difficult times.

[skaen]

I'm a solicitor. Given the astonishing regularity with which my clients completely ignore my advice, I'm certainly not in a position of power!

[mrsmalcolmreynolds]

Pindora not Pinfold - sorry not sure where that came from!

[mrsmalcolmreynolds]

Pinfold my post was in response to yours insofar as you appeared to be unequivocally supporting deepfriedsage's implication that solicitors are in the profession for the power it brings and to abuse that power. Your subsequent post is a great deal more nuanced and I agree with quite a lot of what you say.

IMO acting as a solicitor, if done properly, should (to paraphrase Marvel comics) be a case of "with great responsibility comes very little power". My job is to act on behalf of and in the best interests of my clients ( which includes being pro-active and following up without needing to be chased by them) but in return I get only the power that comes from being their trusted adviser - there should be no aura of "I'm a lawyer therefore my word goes" or anything like it. And if you are conscientious, the greater the trust placed in you by your clients, the greater the sense of personal responsibility.

[Mrsdavidcaruso]

In my case as I said my solicitor waiting for the freeholders solicitor for THREE WEEKS to fax a letter and did nothing that was proactive.

They had the freeholders details but did nothing to alert the freeholder to say that his solicitor was not doing his job.

I took me 5 minutes to google the freeholder and although the address was not on record his accountant was.

My solicitor told me that contacting the accountant would not work and they would not do it, so I did it myself and as I said a fax was sent in under 3 hours.

I did my solicitors job for him and still had to pay him

[PeppermintPasty]

gah I did not put that other apostrophe in my last post either!!!! Bloody phone.

[grovel]

My experiences with Probate and Conveyancing solicitors have been universally ghastly.

[motherinferior]

To return to the charming generalisation of your thread title, yes they do. My sister got out of the law after one too many legal aid cases defending women who'd lost custody of their children or had cigarettes stubbed out on their faces. She and her fellow partners were paid a pittance, too.

If you mean 'solicitors dealing with conveyancing' perhaps you should spell that out? There are quite a few different types of solicitor, you know.

[Alisvolatpropiis]

Ffs. To not comment without. I think my brain just stopped functioning.

[Alibabaandthe40nappies]