Scottish house purchase - not happy with solicitor, what options do I have?

[PlectrumElectrum]

Hi,

I'm in the middle of a house purchase - off made & accepted & missives not concluded. I saw my solicitor today briefly and I'm really not happy with how they dealt with my queries and I'm trying to weigh up whether it's worth changing sols. Everything is on hold while the mortgage is being sorted, so I think there's a 'lull' right now. Can anyone advise how I weigh up if it's worth switching or not? If it's just going to double my bill I can't see it'll be worth it but I'm unsure where to go with this right now.

Any advice?

What are you unhappy about? If mortgage isn't sorted and there's no pressure from other side to conclude it could be prudent to not to conclude missives until mortgage date is set in stone.

At this stage they may well have done most of the work involved so fees could be quite high. It would help if we knew more of the reasons you are unhappy, if they are being negligent etc.

I was sent the refreshed home report & the solicitor states it's my responsibility to review & be aware of content etc. Which is fair enough, I did, flagged up queries about certain issues & each question I asked was met with 'I don't know' - I've no idea if the missives are asking the right questions as they haven't reviewed the home report & appear to be unaware of the unusual boundary issue with the property. I spelled it out & I'm not convinced they'll address that properly as she just answered 'I don't know' to my questions. I have zero confidence in what they're doing as a result.

Does that help at all?

A boundary issue is something I would expect them to address, yes. If the owners have indicated to the surveyor that they own the land up to, for example, the white fence but the deeds indicate that they only own half the garden then that's an issue. Essentially you are buying what is on the deeds so this is what you need to be sure of.

I would be inclined to keep correspondence to email when you ask specific questions. If you would feel better changing solicitor then I suppose you still can but I would think you need proof of the solicitor being poor (such as email trail) if you want to complain or don't want to pay your bill. There may also be mortgage considerations if your mortgage company have already started the process to release funds.

That sounds a bit odd ,to answer I don't know Are they going to find out
It it a solicitor you are dealing with or a paralegal
You need to be confident in your solicitor
I would ask for a meeting,say you are concerned and go with a written list of queries you want dealt with

Hopefully that will give you the reassurance you need

Is there another solicitor in the practice you can ask to take it over? We had to do this once when we were in a similar situation and our solicitors response to our concerns was 'I don't know'

Thanks, this all happened with a meeting I had and it was the trainee solicitor, not the actual solicitor. I think I'll email the senior solicitor and repeat the queries I have as I just don't get the sense the trainee understood the issue or that I was looking for their advice on my queries i.e. I'm relying on their knowledge of this situation with guidance on what I need to know as a the buyer.

Thanks for the advice.

That sounds like it will be fine.Trainee probably a bit out of her depth (remember that feeling)Good luck

Boundary issue the solicitor should advice on, in fact I had one, and many other weird issues, like voluntary purchase order if airport expansion went ahead etc and my solicitor dealt with them all,

The trainee should be referring back to the senior solicitor if they don't know not just saying I don't know. I think approaching fhe senior solicitor is correct. Your trainee should already have a law degree so no reason why she can't try to find out the answers for you.