When to chase solicitors when selling and buying?

[TrixieLox]

Hello,

Our solicitors have been a bit slow with the buying and selling of our house, doing things like sending search reports 4 weeks after they were conducted etc (this may be standard practice, who knows). I want to be a bit more 'on it' with them (in a polite way) and make sure things tick over as we want to complete by end of October.

All parties in the chain have reviewed searches and sent over fixtures and fittings etc (we just sent our fixture and fittings list over for the selling of our house, and saw the form for the house we're buying a couple of weeks ago). So I'm presuming the next stage is drafting a contract for us to sign? When should I chase for our contract? I was thinking in 2 weeks (so around 12 October or is this too late if we want to move 23 or 30 October)? How long after signing does the exchange usually happen?

Many thanks, Tracy

Thanks everyone, interesting thread I've created here! Still not clear on if everything is on for drafting contracts. Mortgage sorted (so paperwork etc doneand signed), all searches and queries sorted, fixtures and fittings etc sent over. I believe it's same for other parties too. So I'm right to presume draft contracts should be being worked on / finalised right now?

If, as you say, queries are sorted, then it does sound like you are close to signing contracts. It's just that nowadays people no longer have to actually visit the solicitor to sign the papers, they can be signed quite a bit in advance of exchange and then held on the file until everything is ready to go. Perhaps email or phone to see if there is much still outstanding on your file - could be that there is work still to be done up or down the chain which your solicitor would have no control over. Just don't keep repeatedly phoning!!

Thanks, Spickle.

Good luck Trixie it can be stressful! Thank you for being a considerate client! Tuesday and Thursday are go good for updates as Monday's are usually inundated with stuff from the weekend and Friday is completion day and can be a write off!!

Our firm uses an online system to keep clients informed as well as communicating by email as much as possible

This is really unusual in my experience. I've used two medium sized suburban London practices and the use of email was minimal. V frustrating in this day and age.

What would be amazingly helpful would be to be given a guide to the process with key milestones flagged and typical timeframes. When any sort of communication is sent out [by mail of course], then it would be handy to see which milestones have been reached and where the delays are [eg: status Overdue :pending receipt of documentation from Sellers]. At least you have some sight during the quiet periods as to whether there's an issue or it's all on track.

Communications are for the most part terrible and it's simple project mgmt that an admin assistant could track and send out updates on.

TreadSoftly As I said upthread, we do have an online system which is regularly updated to keep clients informed - it's actually very good. Unfortunately, because things sometimes take a while to be received, there are lulls on the online system where no progress has been reported. If there is no update online for a few days, we get bombarded with phone calls in case "we forgot something".

It's a sign of the times I fear, that many people have no patience these days and want everything now. Email is good for a lot of the process, but post has to be used for official documents. Please also bear in mind that admin assistants are usually rushed off their feet and while project management is important, it is not simple when there are so many other claims on their time. If exchange is not imminent you are not a priority.

Hi, we are into our 17th week of conveyancing. Solicitors soooo slow .We have a1920s house & it has thrown up lots of searches etc. We have paid an indemnity on the conservatory as it was built before planning permission was required. We are happy to pay a second indemnity( due to the covenants not added to our title deeds when the land was purchased for building our house in 1924, the two neighbouring house have a covenant added but on a different day to the registration of our house) Although agreeing to paying for this indemnity ,whatever, our solicitors are now in dispute with our buyers
solicitors over this policy ! Don't know how this can be resolved without further prolonged discussions. Thought we were nearly ready to sign!