Bothering solicitors to speed things up...

[Maryann1975]

So, we have accepted an offer on our house, and had an offer accepted on a property to buy, it's all with the solicitors now. We really want to be in by Christmas and I'm wondering if we should be bothering the solicitors more to get things done to ensure this happens (I'm aware if any problems are flagged up it will take longer, but in an ideal world before Christmas would be ideal for us). So how often is to often to phone for an update, is it a case of those who shout loudest get done quickest? Or am I best of leaving them to do the job and they will let me know when they need a signature on something.

Depends on the solicitor and where you are in the process but I would chase to a moderate extent. Best thing might be to find out what the key milestones are you have to get to and the estimated dates for these. Then make a call when the dates are approaching to check how it's going. We were held up by the buyer's solicitor, not ours, and there wasn't much we could do, but the estate agents weren't too bad at chasing them up.

PS good luck!

Depends how the fees work too. If they aren't on fixed fee and stick a unit down each time you call/email that could boost your costs.

I would also chase. Good advice from Violetbean. Make sure they send off the searches asap. They have to wait for these to come back from the council etc, which can take time. Definitely don't just leave them to it.

Also chase to make sure your buyers have mortgage offer in place, that can often slow it down.

Good luck though, moving by christmas is very ambitious!

Always chase!! I spent some time working in a high street solicitors office and I promise you the clients that bothered them the most might have been the least popular but they got dealt with first! Stay polite and reasonable though, especially when speaking to the PAs/ secretaries.

Have you asked how long local searches are taking? This can be the biggest source of delays (ours took 2 months at this time of year) and there is nothing you or your solicitor can do about it, except make sure that everything else (especially the mortgage) is ready. Also, preparing the contract and the sellers questionnaire can slow things down at the start, as that is the responsibility of the sellers solicitor. It is therefore worth getting the EA to agree a completion date with the seller ASAP, so you're both committed.

Christmas will be tight, but just about doable. Book your movers now though - its a really busy time of year.

Whatwillsantabring can you book removals even if you don't have a moving date? Will they book you in as a possible and then be able to confirm a date when we know it? We've only ever moved with the military before, everything was so organised and it was done by someone else not us, so we have no idea about the time scales for these things!

I call mine once a week.
This week I had quite a few questions so felt justified in ringing. Our survey is being done tomorrow, I will call her when (fingers crossed) we get our mortgage approved to see how things are progressing.

You could ask your solicitor if they do personal searches, our solicitor does and they are taking only 2 weeks whereas the council are taking 6-8 weeks!

Ah, those lovely days of someone else paying for your packing!! (I had that too - 'twas bliss!)

Ours let me book a provisional date, as long as it wasn't Friday, with a promise to confirm 3 weeks out. Always worth trying. We used a small company with just one crew (two lorries), and much preferred the, over the big nationals the military use.