Is our conveyencing solicitor crap?

[BetteDavis01]

Currently buying a house, but starting to have serious doubts about our solicitor. She has been very snappy on the phone and at other times, she sounds like she is going to burst into tears.

We are not selling a property just buying. Can anyone who has recently purchased a property give some idea of what to expect from a solicitor?

By that, I mean, what sort of information do you expect your solicitor to find out? Local search had been carried out but all the other documents have been filled out by the seller and they don't really tell us much.

Seller confirms that we are responsible for the left hand garden fence and the neighbours are responsible for the right hand fence, however they have ticked the 'don't know' box for the rear garden fence. Now, should the solicitor now try and establish who is responsible for it?

I can see that the windows are very new so surely there must be a warranty for them. Sellers have ticked 'no'.

She has sent out a Contract for us to sign, but my name is scribbled on it in pencil?! My DP's name is printed on it, but they missed out his middle name and have scribbled it on! Surely, this is not right?

Someone please advise, I'm at the end of my tether. TIA.

Bump

You should have signed terms of engagement with the solicitor firm which should have the name of a partner in the firm you can contact about the matter. Call them up and tell them your concerns. Sounds like she might have too much work on her plate, but that shouldn't happen, as it could prejudice you.

Your survey should give a list of things for solicitors to check.
Is it leasehold or freehold? If leasehold there is more for them to check.
Also beware as some lenders only use solicitors from an approved list. I had to change mine due to this issue.
We are also buying and have had an average of one email or letter with other documents per week (since July).
They also asked if we want to buy as joint tenants or tenants in common ( 2 different ways of owning a property).

We are buying and selling. We went to see the solicitor last week to sign the contracts and go through the paperwork. The stuff for our purchase we saw was:

Searches were: water, environmental contamination, then deeds of the house. The details on the property from the land registry show which boundaries we are responsible for and list restrictions on the property. We discussed what might happen if we break one of the restrictions (we want to pave part of the front garden to create more parking).

She quickly looked at our survey to make sure there weren't any serious issues.

We went through the info the seller had declared and checked there was nothing of concern there.

She had a list of additional information she had asked for which is standard I think, like has the house been burgled in the last 5 years, are there solar panels, when was the last central heating check. It was quite a long list but I can't remember much as they all had good answers! She had the FENSA certificates and electrical safety certificates for work done on the house. If your house has windows less than about ten years old then they have to have a FENSA certificate.

She then looked through our mortgage offer and confirmed that was what we thought we were getting and that we still met the terms of the offer.

She then needed proof of where the additional money for the house was coming from because of money laundering regulations. (We are putting in extra savings.)

She asked if we wanted to be joint tenants or tenants in common.

You need to see all of this before you sign the contract!

I think our solicitor is very good. However we have had documents sent to us from others in the chain with our names and the address of our house misspelled. On a document they were going to use to transfer the title at the land registry. So yes, some are clearly rubbish.

Your solicitor should be advising you based on the land registry entries about responsibility for the rear fence - if she hasn't, then raise it with her.

In relation to the windows, has she checked the work was FENSA registered/approved? That would be a solicitor's task rather than any warranty question. If you think there should be a warranty then ask her to follow it up - a conveyancer will do the basic legal work for transferring full and safe title to you, window warranties do not fall under that heading.

Usually your name will be shown in pencil on the contract as an indication of where you sign - you fill it out in pen yourself. Overall though if you feel you need more guidance/handholding in the house buying process don't be afraid to tell your solicitor. It is very common for high st solicitors to delegate a lot of the day to day tasks associated with conveyancing to their secretaries (or trainees if they have them). You can ask for more information if you want it.

Thank you for your replies, very useful.

I don't actually think she is a solicitor. We are using a solicitors firm ( recommended by estate agent) but I'm not sure if the person we are dealing with is a lawyer, because as I went through the paperwork last night, I noticed that it said that she is being overseen by someone else

It's a bloody mess. Is signing the contract the same as exchange? I haven't been invited into their office, all info has been sent by post or email

What shall I do? I really think i've picked a dud firm here.

raise a complaint with her manager right now. Tearful and snappy is not professional. Ask for an instant improvement and if this doesn't happen, find another solicitor. You are paying for this service.

things can be done by post and email but this woman should be keeping you informed, SHE works for YOU. Being overseen is fine, we all have to learn, but we don't learn by behaving as she is.

to answer your other questions:

• signing the contract is NOT the same as exchange. Your solicitor needs to progress exchange and keep you informed. Until contracts are exchanged the deal can still collapse.
• any windows replaced in the last few years MUST have a FENSA certificate. No cert, no sale. You can check for yourself, go to fensa.org.uk, select 'reorder a certificate' and put in the address. This will tell you if one exists at all. If it doesn't start complaining.
• boundary ownership is often not recorded anywhere on many land registry records (they aren't as detailed as you may think) and the vendor may genuinely not know.
• stupid admin errors happen a lot, sign of someone rushing or careless. Complain.