Conveyancing - solicitor slow?

[NarcyCow]

We're buying and selling at the moment and have had both estate agents ringing me wanting to know why we haven't exchanged yet. I had a call from one of them today to give me a heads up that our solicitor is notoriously slow and that we'll probably need to encourage her to keep things moving.

All parties are eager to get the move done as soon as possible.

I'm not at all comfortable with hassling her or ringing repeatedly for updates, but at the same time, I don't want this to take longer than it has to for anyone!

How should I approach this?

Im suprised the agents are calling you to ask as they normally speak to solicitors themselves to find out whats happening. However doesnt do any harm for you to check progress with your solicitor. You need to know if searches are in and if enquiries have been answered by the other solicitors and when you should go in to sign the contracts. Is your mortgage offer in yet? Just because everyone is keen to move doesnt mean solicitors will move quickly and searches and mortgage applications can take a while to come through.

Perhaps send an email so that she's got an opportunity to respond in her own time, and then ring if you don't get a response within a day or two? Good luck.

She's your solicitor, working for you, so just chase a bit. If you don't she'll probably happily stay on go slow.

I did email, on monday. It's wednesday and she hasn't replied. One estate agent contacted me because I think she wanted me to be aware that there might be an issue (she's had problems with this solicitor in previous sales) and the other said he wanted to check in with me before contacting her.

He did ring her after that to find out what, if anything, was causing the delay and she told him that she had the deeds and everything she needed from me, so she'd 'bump us up the list'. She still hasn't replied to my email asking the same question the previous day though!

Even good solicitors need prodding, I find. Ring regularly (once a week, then more often) I'd say, asking where things have got to, and what can you do to keep things moving. You don't need to be arsey, just make clear that you want to keep on top of things and need their help and advice to do so!

Perfectly acceptable to phone the Conveyancer to get an update every so often but your Estate Agent is probably not much help as they don't do the legal work and so cannot know whether you're close to exchange or not. They can phone up and down the chain to get an idea of what's still outstanding but naturally they are looking for their commission! Do you have any idea how far along the process you are??

All I know is that she has the deeds from the bank and everything she needed from me. I haven't got a clue about searches or anything, which seems like a good excuse to ring her tomorrow morning.

The 'bump us up the list' thing sounded to me like she could have been working on our case but wasn't.

Have you had enquiries forwarded to you from your buyers solicitors? Similarly, have you been asked to clarify any of the information you provided in the fixtures & fittings/property information form? This gives an indication as to how far along you are.