to be furious at being so openly lied to by a solicitor and confront her about it

[darbylou]

Long time lurker first time poster here.

I'm a first time buyer and I've had an offer accepted on a new build property (small developer) the developer offered to pay for both my mortgage advisor and solicitors fee if I used his chosen ones, a solicitor and an advisor he'd been working with for years and who get things done quickly, I didn't like the idea of this but due to all the expense of moving couldn't really afford to look a gift horse in the mouth, the mortgage advisor is amazing and has everything in hand.

All was going well and I was set to complete tomorrow, I'd contacted the solicitors weeks ago to leave my contact number and introduce myself as the developer had already instructed them, they said they'd get back in touch when they needed anything from me. I received no contact until two days ago when they sent me a corrupted email with 3 files I couldn't open at 5pm. The day after I contacted them and they said they'd a lot of forms for me to complete. I went in filled in all the paperwork and was told completion may be delayed but only by a couple of days and work was well on the way with the case.

I received another call today. It was the solicitors wanting to confirm a few details on the form, when I asked how it was progressing she said 'oh it'll be a good few weeks until exchange then two after that until completion' when I questioned it she tried to deny that we had spoken the day before and then told me she'd received instruction on the 1st and then later on said it was on the 5th. I told her I'd already sorted a landscaper and a plumber and a moving firm and was just about to end my tenancy and she said 'do you really think these things happen overnight, I have a lot of work to do you know, I was only told about you today.'

posted too quick there.

The more I think about it the angrier I get that she bare faced lied to me about meeting me, about when she was instructed twice and then spoke to me like a child when I asked about completion date.

Would I be unreasonable to phone her tomorrow and speak to her about it and confront her lying?

I don't want to do anything that slows down the process but she's also added a load of unneeded stress with moving now as I'm having to reorganise everything and will more than likely lose my deposit for my gardener.

Maybe she is confused, rather than lying?

Tbf it's sill to plan work and book movers when buying new a house. Even a new one. It rarely goes to plan. We bought new build and things can get delayed. Stuff happens.

Do you really need the gardener and plumber there on an exact date? As soon as you move in?

Would the threat of complaint to her superior hurry things along?
There was no need for her to be so condescending towards you.

I had a solicitor lie to me when getting exP removed from house deeds - caused me untold shit, so I blasted them about it

How could you be expecting to complete if you were only contacted a few days ago, surely you'd have had to agree all the details before exchange?

I'd not booked them to come the day I move in, I'd left a week for jiggle room thinking that if a problem with completion occurred it could be sorted by then but it's looking like its going to take a lot longer than that now.

Jay55 The developer has already sold a house on the land using the solicitor and took charge with instructions, I phoned up with my contact details weeks ago and was told everything was going to plan and that they'd contact me when they needed anything from me. I suppose naively I just assumed since they'd said that everything was going to plan and thought when I went in yesterday it was for some finalisation.

Something isn't right. It takes weeks from instruction to completion.

Personally I would book a Gardner or anything until I had the keys.

Our house moves have ranged from 8 weeks to 18 weeks.

You were set to complete tomorrow... But had you actually agreed this with the vendor's solicitor's? Sounds like a whole heap of assumptions were made on your part
Pure madness to agree tradesmen's start dates before you've even exchanged!!

I wouldn't book a gardeners

have you even exchanged yet?

Sounds like they have only just received your instruction

Maybe as a first time buyer who has no prior experience she took these people at their word and is perhaps understandably annoyed at the lack of expectation management and poor communication on their part. I don't think I would have left it so late to contact them though.

If I've become confused over it then so has the developer who also fully believed we'd be completing and exchanging on the same day - tomorrow.
I now know it was a mistake to book the landscape gardener but was just being pretty over eager.

thanks redexpat.

I contacted the solicitor about 3 weeks ago which is when she told me that everything was going fine and she'd get back in touch before completion when she had some paperwork for me to fill in. I was very naive to think she was doing anything without all the paperwork I had to then go and fill in.

I'll not let it happen again, I'll make sure to keep on top of it now every step of the way.

it's stressful OP - welcome to the world of house buying

I sold my last house to a cash buyer and was moving to an empty property - even dropped the price due to her wanting a quick move - this was may 20th - we finally moved in August 12th! - you need to cancel everything UNTIL you have exchanged then set a completion date that suits YOU

This would be ringing sufficient warning bells for me to be instructing a new, independent solicitor even if I had to pay for it.

I really don't understand how you could possibly have thought you'd be completing tomorrow if you'd heard nothing from the solicitors. Surely you realised that, at the very least, they've got to carry out various searches and inquiries, they need your signature on the various documents, they have to deal with your mortgage providers to ensure the money is in place - and indeed that they would have asked you before agreeing a completion date to ensure it was convenient for you? Also they would have needed to come back to you to ensure that the figures were correct?

Are you sure you necessarily spoke to the same person when you phoned? Firms that work for developers tend to have large teams.

The solicitors should have written to you when they received formal instructions setting out lots of information about their charges, the likely disbursements, timescale, who would be dealing with your case. I suspect the difficulty may be that you have been doing everything by phone when they probably needed some paperwork from you or maybe from the developer or mortgage adviser, if in practice you delegated the giving of instructions to them. If the reality is that the developer or mortage adviser has only just sent instructions, the solicitors aren't in the wrong.

In any event, I think you would not be well advised to phone the individual concerned to complain. You should always put things in writing, and if you phone you should follow up with a letter or email to confirm what has been agreed.

Had you not wondered why you hadn't been asked for a deposit for exchange, let alone the balance needed to complete if you were expecting completion tomorrow?

Although it's technically possible to exchange and complete on the same day, I've never known it happen and if you are buying with a mortgage, the mortgage company requires 7 days between exchange and completion to make the funds available.

Augusta, I phoned the solicitor three weeks ago gave them all my contact information, she said she'd be in touch and that everything was going well. I naively assumed that it was, if she'd have said 'who the hell are you and why are you leaving your number' I'd have thought they'd not been instructed but she took my details and commented on my case and told me that when she needed me she'd be in touch. All this is new to me and I assumed that they obviously didn't need anything off me that hadn't already been provided. Even the developer who's dealt with this solicitor many times before is shocked at what's happened and can't understand what they've been doing for the past weeks.

I know I'm not blame free and should have been chasing them up but part of me just assumed that everything was going right as that was what I'd been told, I thought if there was a problem I'd have been contacted.

I'm totally confused now; it was the developer who told you when you'd complete? And this was before you'd even instructed the solicitor?

Mannery & Purple, when I went in two days ago that's part of what I thought I'd have been going in for. I've never done anything like this before and completely thought everything was in hand.

But how did you think you were going to complete when you didn't know what the figures were? It's not just the price of the house, there's local searches, stamp duty etc.

I think you'd probably do well to have a look at the conveyancing process so you understand what's supposed to happen. It'll help you work out when you should be chasing.

Have you completed your mortgage application? Had a mortgage offer?

Flogging - after my offer was accepted I went to view the house to pick carpets, during this time the developer told me he'd pay for my solicitors fees if I'd use a solicitor he's been using for the other houses on this development and on his previous ones, he said this way he could chase everyone up and make sure they were all on the same page. I thought it sounded really easy and was happy for not having to pay. He then instructed the solicitor and I got in contact with her after with my details, it was him who asked if I was happy to complete on the 8th and he instructed the solicitor thats when he wanted it to be.

Even reading this I know my mistake was letting someone else do it all for me. If I'd have done it myself I'd hope none of this would have happened.

In regards to complaining, put it in writing setting out dates and ask for it to be referred to a supervisor.