To think solicitors are f***** unprofessional and no other professions would get away with it

[Indigo93]

A chance to rant. Please tell me I am not being unreasonable to feel utterly pissed off and beyond exhausted over this???

After 5 months of attempting to buying home with no chain at either end, we have been "apparently" ready to change contracts since last Thursday but surprise surprise it hasn't happened. So far I have been the one to chase the seller, the agent, the lender and other parties to send stuff back as our solicitor prefers to sit on their bum and wait for days for snail mail. We needed to exchange today in order to not be homeless for a few days due to complications with renting. Today was finally to be the day but guess what?? The vendor's solicitor is "working from home" and has not responded to emails or phone calls all day!!!!! Her team have apparently said they can't do any more. The e. agent can't reach her either.

WT ACTUAL F??!!

How is this professional?!?!?!

How do they continually get away with slow and non-responsive practice!!!

Rant over

(Disclaimer: IAAL but know nothing about conveyancing)

Wtf is IAAL

If it's I am a lawyer well then yes you can probably afford to pay a little more than peanuts unlike the rest of us pleps.

£1100 to sell a property and how much did you pay the estate agent?

If you use a conveyancing firm you’ll get shit service. Their caseloads are huge and one qualified solicitor will be ‘supervising’ a huge number of staff doing the main bits of the work.

We instructed a proper solicitor and completed in 7 weeks. Estate agent estimate was 16 as it was a complex purchase.

I bought a flat last year. No chain on either side and 319 days from offer accepted to completion. It was lucky I loved the flat. Trouble was in that time I met a guy and now want to move in with him, so have lived there less time than I waited for it

It’s all these cheap conveyancing firms that have driven prices down, or forces what were decent firms to lower prices and then take on so many clients to break even.

I understand to a lay person that it appears Solicitors donlittle for the money, but you’re buying their knowledge. Plus overheads and liability and negligence insurance premiums are massive.

A legal career is costly, undergrad, LPC and living costs whilst your doing it, then a training contract on often not so good wages. So £1400 a transaction all told isn’t bad.

With delays, they’re at the mercy of the local council for searches, the other side’s Solicitor, unexpected title issues that take time to sort out. Even the land reg can be slow.

It’s no excuse not for professionalism though.

A decent Solicitor are worth their weight in gold. Maybe consider that next time you save a couple of hundred quid upfront using “Conveyancing 4 U” or the like.

My solicitor was amazing when buying this house. No fucking about. Everything happened when she said it would unless the delays were from the seller in which case she let me know straight away that they were waiting on x from the seller. Everything was arranged. I didn't have to phone to chase anything once.

I think you just have a shit solicitor.

People don't want to pay the fees, so conveyancing has very very low margins so firms have to have hundreds of files to meet their costs/make money and this is the result.

We had a nightmare solicitor when we moved. Luckily I read absolutely everything whereas DP would've just signed. She got the sale and purchase price wrong, mine and DP's NI numbers mixed up, loads of typos, hadn't checked forms from the sellers properly which would've left us clearing out all their shite, the list went on and on. I had to keep emailing and phoning and asking for corrections which made the whole process take considerably longer. I was so pissed off I had to pay for that!! I really wish I had complained but in the end was just relieved it actually went through! So, from my point of view YADNBU!!

Did I say you were paid too much Hari? But I'm pretty confident you were able to afford your specialist solicitor for the error you noticed. I certainly didn't say conveyancing solicitors were paid to much but don't let your frothing get in the way of what I actually did say.

And I couldn't give a fuck what your NHS doctor dh is paid, seriously. My dh is a banker in the City and also works less than me. Poor little us eh

*"My solicitor was amazing when buying this house.

I think you just have a shit solicitor."*

Smug much? I think it's clear from these responses that my experience is sadly pretty common.

I work for a solicitors and I guarantee that we always try and do our best for every client, I do understand that all firms are not the same though.

I don't think that conveyancing attracts the more dynamic personalities, so yes, things can be a bit slow.

I think however, that a proper solicitor will pick up problems that an online pseudo-solicitor will miss.

Conveyancers are incredibly slow in this country. A colleague told me it is fairly typical to get a sale through in Australia in 3 weeks.

It's not smug. It was pure pot luck. First time buyer so first time ever dealing with a solicitor. But I did get recommended them by the broker.

So not smug. Just feeling like a solicitor that doesn't communicate probably isn't worth their money.

Or maybe I just got lucky and next time they will be awful

Often when solicitors "disappear" it is because their clients have asked them to stall.... are you sure your vendors are as keen to push things through at the same pace as you?

Wow. I think I need to move to one of these firms. I'm a qualified solicitor, practice in conveyancing and usual fees are around £500-850 plus VAT here.

Would be nice to get £1400 a matter as I could have fewer files and more time to chase on them- the problem is that prices have been driven down over the years by the factory firms that you have to have more files to stay in business.

There is a lot of work involved behind the scenes that clients don't always see and there are some bad solicitors out there (the same as in any profession) but most of us work really hard to do the best for our clients.

After all, we may still get paid but we do actually want people to be able to move and there is nothing better than being able to tell someone they can get their keys.

Without name dropping I feel you could be using the same Solicitors as me.
Not replying to urgent emails ect.
Anytime I phone up my conveyencer is on another line with another client. Id love to know what their secret is
Why do companies want to make them selves unpopular. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that they're not stupid. They must know people will leave negative reviews, which stupidly of me I didn't look at before I went with them

I've just checked... although my bill was around £1300 the solicitors fees were only £600 the other costs were searches etc.

This is my job. I work my actual arse off. I can't remember the last time I stopped for dinner and I've just walked through the door now. I work bloody hard and I studied hard to get where I am.

I can't speak for others, Scoogle, but I don't doubt you do work hard. I'm just speaking as I find.
Get rid of the chip on the shoulder.
These comments are not aimed at you.

It's nothing to do with a chip on my shoulder. I'm just defending my profession, possibly speaking as I find.

I don't understand why they can't seem to use email like every other business in the world.

You can complain about the service, escalate it to the legal ombudsman or to the SRA. But, if it is the other sides solicitor causing the delay then perhaps the other side is less keen than you to get this tied up quickly.

Also, for £600 conceyancing you’ll likely be dealing with a paralegal or similar, with a mega caseload, signed off by one solicitor. If all of their clients are always chasing them apparently to run their caseload, they’ll spend all day doing that and not have time to actually progress anything.

Sadly it’s been a race to the bottom fees wise and because firms are slow to catch up with seeing themselves as a business service like a surveyor or estate agent with a value attached, it means they’re struggling with office overheads, indemnity insurance and regulation such that they either have to increase number of clients or their fees, but people aren’t willing to pay, so all that is left is to get junior people to manage mega caseloads.

@wormy every decent solicitor I’ve encountered uses email and e-signing capacity.