Solicitors conspire to drag out conveyancing

[SweetCruciferous]

AIBU to think solicitors deliberately eke out every step of the conveyancing process as a deliberate ploy to justify disproportionate fees for simple boilerplate admin tasks amounting to no more than a couple of days’ work?

This is my suspicion. Can anyone confirm this? Any heretic solicitors? AIBU?

I do love a good 'everyone-is-out-to-get-me conspiracy nutter'.

If only this was true

I don't think so. My conveyancing has always been fixed fee, so they don't get more if it lasts longer, and the sols I use have always been really hacked off if the other side hold things up. I do think some sols take on more work than they can handle and miss deadlines but I don't think that's deliberate.

Hitting it with a hammer, very cheap. Knowing where to hit it...

Why would they bother, mostly charge a fixed fee. They don’t charge a lot, compared to estate agents, to be fair.

Do you want to compare them against agents fees which are a lot higher? So, the fees aren't ridiculous in comparison. I always find agents fees insane!

Solicitors have hourly rates and half the time having to work to fixed fees means they write the time off, so effectively provide a discount (admittedly, it's the partners that set these hourly rates so kind of just hypothetical in practice). Conveyancing solicitors also usually have a huge workload.

There are also searches. Local authority searches are provided by a local authority (not solicitor) and can take an age to come back... you'll find that's usually a big delay!

Solicitors want things done as quickly as possible, they'd charge the same if it happens in a few weeks or many months. The shorter the time, the more quickly they get their payment.

No, fixed fee so no advantage to dragging things out. There is a fear of getting sued/client complaints so tendancy to cover every point. Also they take on to much work.

Ours charge a fixed fee. If it's all so easy, why not print out a few "boilerplate" letters yourself? And do all the searches? And liaise with agents and other solicitors? And the mortgage companies? And the Land Registry office?

OP, does your post also mean that you consider the conveyancing process all a 'simple admin task'?

Oh dear.... you'd have a nasty shock if you actually found yourself working for a law firm! It's a shame that a lot of respect has been lost from clients for what was once considered a respectable profession.

I'm a solicitor, although in another area of law. From what I can tell, the vast majority of cases are fixed fees (so no more to be gained by stringing anything out) as it's such a price sensitive service. And because profit margins are small, residential conveyancers are required by their firms to take on a very high caseload. So it may feel like things are being strung out but it's just the result of an unrealistic caseload, not a deliberate ploy. None of my colleagues want to have more clients than they can handle, but this is the culture of a lot of firms. And precisely why I'm going to leave my job just as soon as I can find something else!

If it's that simple you could do it yourself. That'll speed things up don't you think?

Yabu, but there are some seriously crap ones out there.

yes I know they don’t get more money if it takes longer.

And I don’t know the answer to this question myself – that’s why I’m curious to hear from others who might know more about the internal process than me.

So all insight welcome

The legal business is one where automation is a threat in the relatively short term, suggesting there is a lot of repetitive or easily coded stuff

Haha no we dont trust me we want it done too there's just a lot going on behind the scenes and we have to wait back for info and search results. Most work on fixed fee anyway so it's in our interest to get you done and on to our next client

Yes, I know they read things, but we can train machines to read legal documents quite easily

Sorry seen that you wanted more info
About the actual process lol we look at the details of the conveyances and historical title documents to see if they will affect your use of the property. We look for violations of covenants or planning etc that you might become
Liable for, we have to check and verify names and adresses in line with money laundering regulation for a start plus we're dealing with hundreds of other cases as well as you

Thanks @PersicariaBistortaSuperba that makes sense. In my case I’m not in a chain, the mortgage was approved months ago and the solicitors have had all the documents they need for around 5 months. At the very least there hasn’t appeared to be much sense of urgency, let’s put it that way.

Obviously I don’t know the ins and outs and whilst I appreciate that clearly the tasks are specialised enough to require a trained solicitor, they still don’t seem like a half year’s endeavour. Thanks for the insight!

To be fair yours do sound a bit crap. It's like any profession, good and bad out there

I think there does seem to be a certain amount of unprofessional behaviour.

many other businesses would not be able to get away with sitting on documents for months, losing documents, taking months to do things ...I am not talking about cases where issues come up. I am seeing incompetence in some cases and no obvious recourse.

If a builder came in, they give you a rough idea how long the job will take. They explain when delays occur. They give evidence if the delay is beyond their control.

Whereas a conveyancer. You engage them. You send in the paperwork. They are too busy to reply to emails or answer the phone, ( the builder only takes on work they can fit on) they lose documents and you are stuck just waiting and waiting with no ability to plan.

@midgebabe

Yes, I know they read things, but we can train machines to read legal documents quite easily

You really think machines could interpret legal documents?

My conveyancing colleagues are absolutely inundated at the moment to the point were they are going into the office over the weekends and are actually considering the unprecedented move of turning work down. The cause is not helped by some clients calling every single day to chase which wastes even more time.

Agree with pp's if you want to criticise anyone, save it for the agents who charge considerably more to do considerably less.

Ah..what I meant to add is that I am not aware of any means of raising complaints for example, or getting a refund for poor performance etc

See if I was a client I would rather you said up front, we are overloaded, we will do what we can but I think we may be unable to process your case until mid January , then fine. But taking on too much work without giving the customer any idea of this is unprofessional

An yes, people will phone and disturb you unless you take action to keep them informed. Again, its not professional to not reply.

If a builder came in, they give you a rough idea how long the job will take. They explain when delays occur. They give evidence if the delay is beyond their control.*

What about those builders who fuck off to do other jobs when they're in the middle of yours? No different.