By ringing our solicitors every other day

[tvlover1234]

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!

[tvlover1234]

Yes we are first time buyers and not renting. Well we live at home so don't have to give notice lol!! And the sellers are elderly and now living on a mobile home so everything has been set to go for a long while now. Which is really frustrating but I need to keep telling myself the wait will be worth while. My skin is awful right now with the worry and stress of it all lol

[Icimoi]

I agree with stuckatmydesk about the problems estate agents cause. When we were moving it was a very straightforward transaction, with a first time buyer buying our flat and we were moving to a house being sold by the deceased owner's executors. Neither we nor our buyer were in a particular hurry - he wanted to tie it in with the notice he was giving to his landlord, our mortgage was slightly complicated as I was on maternity leave. Our estate agent however was desperate for us to exchange and complete so he could get his commission, and kept phoning us and the buyer saying the other party was getting really impatient and was about to pull out if we didn't get a move on. As we were in touch with each other we knew it was a load of rubbish and told him so, but it annoyed me because the buyer might well have got pissed off and pulled out if he thought we were going back on our agreement about the timing.

[Getthewonderwebout]

Yes, flowers are only to be given when the client is satisfied. Don't reward bad behaviour!! Very best of luck with your new home, when you get the keys!

[tvlover1234]

Also I did say about buying them flowers etc when we first instructed them as I am just that the of person but after the service we've been given (no not just the waiting on things but the having to chase, being lied to and spoke to like crap) I've decided against it. I will be getting my broker a little something though as him and his team have been fab x

[tvlover1234]

I haven't actually spoken to Estate agents. The first time I rang the estate agents was when I was getting.Nothing from the solicitor and wondered whether they had heard anything. They said no and that was it.

Thanks all. I don't expect the world I really don't. I just expect an honest and polite response. I rang every 2 weeks and then upped it since she was rude and I discovered she'd lied about stuff so was clearly worried and wanted to be on top op things.

I really need to find a friend who does conveyancing ha.

We will get there in the end I guess.

[MrsBigginsPieShop]

Conveyancing is not a form filling exercise. The compliance requirements are vast. The drafting of a contract can have implications. There is a huge amount of work behind the scenes on covenants, planning and building regulation issues, access and service requirements, equity and trusts, overreaching, indemnities and a hundred variables on each file, then sub divide that in to freehold or leasehold, registered or unregistered, joint or sole purchase, declarations of trust, contributions to purchase price, indemnity provisions. Then each mortgage lender has there own set of specific requirements, along with main set of requirements for all lenders. Then deal with third party funding, equity release mortgages, Sharia mortgages, porting mortgages. Then chuck in daily calls from estate agents stirring the pot and playing dangerous games of Chinese whispers. Then meeting all the deadlines imposed and keeping every party updated at least once daily, by email and phone. Then logging every phone call via note, even a meaningless interruption. Times that by sixty to eighty. Then keep smiling and being polite and efficient. It is mind frazzling sometimes.
I can't speak for the conveyancing factories or firms that don't offer a good level of service, but I personally work extremely hard "conveyancing" (along with all the other aspects of property work most property lawyers will do that doesn't involve selling houses).
It infuriates me no end that unqualified, unprofessional fee earners give the profession a bad name.
OP you should have been given details of the complaints handling Partner at the firm when you instructed them. Please contact them. Please escalate to Ombudsman if you aren't satisfied.
The work is stressful and hectic, but communication is key and you haven't been getting that.
Please don't waste time clogging up the phone of your solicitor or their secretary. If the service really is inadequate then complain through the proper channels. And don't listen to estate agents 'assumptions' or hearsay, please.

[Getthewonderwebout]

wax. Absolutely spot on

[Getthewonderwebout]

TV, I'm really genuinely sorry you've had shit service. The majority of us in solicitors firm work so damned hard. I've done the job for 25 years. It's changed hugely over the years, it really has. There is so much admin involved in order comply with rules, so many enquiries to raise of vendors. I still get the odd bunch of flowers and bottle of plonk! I do understand your frustrations. They are as great for us too! We want to meet a client, deal with the legalities and send them off to their new home with minimum fuss. The world is much more criminally minded these days. We need to see bank statements, get confirmation of the source of private funds. These things alone take our time, before we have even laid eyes on the transaction itself. Years ago the big issue was whether the vendor was leaving the velour drapes in the living room!

I think if I were you I would email your conveyancer and cc their superior (details of them will be in the Terms of Business letter). Be honest, say you are concerned at discrepancies, you went to them by recommendation or whatever and you would like clarification of x,y, z. We don't like complaints, who does, and most firms rely on repeat business and recommendation. None of us want to sour relations. It sounds like you've had shitty luck and I'm sorry about that, no excuse for your experience.

[Waxlyrically]

I don't think it pays to be impatient in something as important as buying a house. Conveyancing is a painstaking and laborious process because it requires so much attention to detail. Rushing things might lead to a mistake you could do without. You also need to keep in mind that she will be dealing with lots of other cases at the same time and that there may be a delay with vital responses from 3rd parties that is outside her control. A watched pot never boils as they say!

[DadfromUncle]

So the money laundering thing protects me from a theoretical risk that the other side's lawyer may demand money I can't get at because a bank account that has nothing to do with me has been frozen? And are you saying that because my lawyer demanded a copy of my passport (and probably some other stuff) that won't happen? Or that it will but at least no-one goes to jail? Because all I am seeing here is more "the government made some rules which we have to follow, it's for your own (as usual unspecified) good"

As for individual contracts, I may be out of date, but last time I did this my lawyer proudly told me about all the unreasonable clauses proposed by the other side and how he'd heroically re-written them (at my expense) to save me from a range of odd and unspecified perils.

All I am hearing in these justifications for costs and delays is "it is a complicated process" - well how about making it quicker and cheaper - it shouldn't be rocket science, people buy and sell houses every day.

If I worked in an industry with such evident consistently low levels of customer satisfaction, I might have a think about what might improve things rather than just complaining that all my customers have unreasonable expectations.

[tvlover1234]

No I didn't. She's not been rude since. She was lovely to my mum.amd dad I even met her. She doesn't remember of course. I really think it is because we are young lol.

[Getthewonderwebout]

Did you raise her rudeness with a partner, as you ought to, that's unacceptable.

[tvlover1234]

My conveyancer said it was to go with our mortgage providers guidelines. Rang mortgage provider snd they said no we have no idea why she's asking ypu for it as we don't need it. We have the signed letter form your dad

[tvlover1234]

Raised spoke to me frankly

[Getthewonderwebout]

Whose ordered the indemnity, your conveyancer or the vendor's?

[tvlover1234]

she also said she rated one of our queries weeks ago and then said last week she sent it off the Monday gone. So yet another lie. And she's very rude and spoke to email frankly like shit(this was when I was ringing her every two weeks for update) and I gave her a mouth ful back. Not wearing or shouting. Simply said I work in a customer based environment and would be sacked on the spot if I spoke to a client so disresepctfully and you expect me to pay you 1500 for your services? She sounded shocked and embarrassed and apologies for coming across like that. She hasn't been rude since but has lied. Lmao

[tvlover1234]

Cruik I never said that. I said she said all the searches were back weeks ago and we're told last week that they weren't. So yes she did lie lol. They're now waiting on this indemnity insurance

[Getthewonderwebout]

Ghosty you're right, email helps. Unfortunately though clients then phone when their email hasn't been replied to. This happened to me today. God forbid I take a wee and call the redemptions team at Santander!

If you are really unhappy you need to in the first instance contact a partner of the firm who will speak to the fee earner acting for you and try to resolve your concerns. If you are still dissatisfied, your next step is to contact the SRA. The SRA will not investigate your complaint if you haven't given a partner of the firm an opportunity to rectify.

[Getthewonderwebout]

And re contracts Dad they actually aren't individual - probably the only thing that isn't - standard edition.

Conveyancing isn't a contract Dad. It's the whole legalities of a transaction. The conveyancer acts for the lender too. If it were straightforward, lay people could do their own conveyancing. They used to, about 20 years ago, if they were cash buyers. But mistakes got made. It had to stop. Lay people didn't have the knowledge and expertise. And of course the lawless simpler then too, plus there weren't the hoops to jump through.

[cruikshank]

Where has the solicitor lied? She said she had searches back and there are more to come. This is normal. They do not all come back at once. She said that she could not accept a third-hand verbal report that insolvency indemnity insurance was not required. Again, this is normal. Firms require indemnity insurance where part of the purchase monies are a gift. Neither action involves any lying. These are the complaints that the OP has and neither involve inefficiency or lying.

[ghostyslovesheep]

sorry but I phoned at 4:15 today as we where supposed to be exchanging and no one called me

turns out there was quiet a lot to update me on - if they don't want clients calling them it might be worthwhile updating them by email when things get delayed or issues arise - rather than leaving them sweating!

and I am never rude or sweary btw

[specialsubject]

no sympathy at all for this solicitor. She's lost client trust by lying (and being inefficient) so the situation is ALL of her own making.

and it seems they are over charging too.

don't leap to her defence. She's giving the rest of you a bad name and causing the kind of trouble you get.

[Getthewonderwebout]

dad. Money laundering affects everyone. In every day life. Specifically in a conveyancing transaction, one example (there are many but you can research. Most firms of solicitors in fact have money laundering training annually, so on that basis alone you can surely appreciate its effects. Anyway, that example:-

You are completing on your transaction. So is Joe blogs. He has laundered his funds and they have entered the very same bank account as you, being an honest member of society. The appropriate authorities are aware of course, they having done their homework. And guess what, on the day of both completions, your solicitor's practice's accounts are frozen. You now can't complete. Your buyer serves a notice to complete on you at 8% above base rate of the amount payable. Yes you can claim back of course, lengthy process though.

If a conveyancer is found to have verified identification which it turns out is linked to money laundering, they can be handed a two year prison sentence. Maybe Google "Mlo" for further clarification of money laundering regs and their effect on you. By the way, solicitors didn't write the regulations, we just have to follow them.

[cruikshank]

Yy Spickle. Your average conveyancer has around 60 files on the go at any one time. If clients ring every day, that is a lot of phone calls, all pointless and achieving nothing apart from stopping them doing their work. Conveyancers take a lot of shit, I think - your average mh client, for example, is much more reasonable and polite, as is your average criminal client, for that matter.

[Spickle]

I'm a conveyancing assistant and in my office, everyone works under extreme pressure to meet clients' expectations. Unfortunately, no matter how much work we get through, we still get clients complaining and shouting/swearing at us on the phone because we didn't update them every day or because we haven't immediately chased a third party for some paperwork. We would get a lot more work done if clients didn't harrass us all the time. You actually have no idea how disrupting it can be to continually put a file down that I'm working on to switch to another file just because a client has phoned for the umpteenth time for an update. Sometimes I pick up a file to start some work and then two hours later, I still haven't managed to do the work, due to disruptive phone calls on mostly non-urgent time wasting stuff. Believe me when I say that clients constantly calling or emailing are a pain in the backside and no, it doesn't speed things up - if anything it stops us from doing our work, and by default, your work.

Oh, and don't phone on Friday - it's a very busy day with completions and they have to take priority.