Sellers solicitors are useless

[BumbleNova]

Hi All

Following on from my previous thread (it took the sellers sols 4 weeks to send my sols the draft contract), I googled them and found lots of awful reviews about how painfully awful they are . they have gone with the bargain basement option - really annoying.

we havent yet had any replies to enquiries or the fixtures and fittings forms. I'd like to be in by mid-april, which is 6-7 weeks away. we have the survey all booked for Monday. I dont have a hard deadline but I want to keep things moving.

so can any one give me a list / a steer of the information we need from the sellers solicitors? as FTB, I dont know what we are missing? I'd like to be able to go to the EA and say - right, we havent received x, y or z. please hassle sellers solicitors.

I was also going to give my sols a heads up on the reviews of the sellers sols so they can also adjust accordingly or is that a bad idea?

You solicitor should be the one to advise you - that's what you pay them for. What could be a good idea is to get a weekly round up from your solicitor of where things are up to them ring the estate agent and tell them what you have done/where things are up to and what is needed from the vendors.

The delay may not be down to the solicitors - it might be that the vendors are taking a long time to complete the paperwork and may be looking for guarantees, etc so haven't returned things to their solicitors quickly. If they are buying somewhere themselves with a mortgage they may be waiting for their mortgage offer before pushing ahead and incurring further costs.

good point! thanks! My sols have been good so far so I will get them on the case.

It may be the vendors yes. They have told me that they are moving in with friends to take themselves out the chain. I know they tried to sell the house in April last year and it fell through so I think they are motivated.

I called the EA when we still hadnt had the draft contracts after 4 weeks, and half an hour later, we had them. I guess i just need to keep hassling. stupidly, I had hoped things would just chug along without too much effort on my behalf...

Sounds like you have a decent solicitor on your side, just make sure they are keeping on top of things. Most solicitors priority will increase towards your case as you get closer to exchange and completion.

Our solicitors, who we had appointed by my partners relocation agent, have been HORRIBLE to deal with. Very poor communication and not very interested in getting the job done until we are right on top of the exchange and now they seem to be slightly more interested in getting the job finished!

You don't need to hassle - just keep on top of things.

great - I have been checking in once a week with my sols, I will keep doing that.

Check in with the vendors estate agents once you have spoken with your solicitors and update them.