Is it normal for conveyancing to be so slow

[BlooperReel]

Our buyers conveyancer is painful, days and days of radio silence depsite us being ready to exchange, they are even ignoring messages from their own client as well as our solicitor.

Is this usual? It is so damn frustrating

They handle lots of cases at the same time and typically pick up a file and work on it when there is actually something to do. Plus the solicitor has to wait for their client to respond, wait for the mortgage company to respond, wait for searches, etc. Have you had enquiries from them via your solicitor?

Yes. Some conveyancing solicitors are truly awful. There are thankfully a similar number of brilliant ones at the other end of the spectrum.

On average the process from offer acceptance to exchange takes around 12-14 weeks, and seems to get slower each year.

I often think it's amazing anyone in this country manages to move house.

Yes all enquiries answered, the buyer is chasing for progress too as is my solicitor.

All mortgages in place, deposits in place, contracts signed.

We have a brand spanking new house sitting there waiting for us to complete but can't because they are just soooo slow.

My kids have never had a garden, all this gorgeous weather too, it's really frustrating.

It seems to be so much slower these days. I put this down to estate agents encouraging people to use 'their recommended solicitor', which actually means that they/you are dealing with a large anonymous group.
When most people used their own local solicitor in the same town as the estate agents things moved so much faster - you could actually call in to the solicitor's practice and get answers - now you can only deal with them by email or telephone.
When I move again I will insist on using my own solicitor who I know and trust.

Yes it can be - I am currently experiencing this pain right now!

But with my last purchase just 3 years ago it was less than 6 weeks from viewing to completion.

We are now about 15 weeks in and still no exchange. Infuriating!

It's awful isn't it. Ours is a local firm, they are easily reachable, reply to emails same day, answer the phone.

The buyers are a shower of shite quite frankly.

It’s an awful, excruciatingly slow process at the best of times but some solicitors make it worse!

We’ve been waiting to exchange since Friday, everything is in place but still, we wait. My solicitor has called and been ignored, ditto the EA.
I mean, I know they have multiple clients but at this point my opinion of our buyers solicitor is that either their workload is far too heavy, or they’re merely incompetent.

@theluggageslegs, I could be you! We are experiencing the exact same thing. Didn't help that I then googled the firm and have seen loads of bad reviews.

Blooper I speak as a conveyancer of many years it seems as though the clients might be the cause of the delay. Are your solicitors certain the deposits are ALL in place and have cleared in the solicitors bank account? Are your solicitors certain that all parties have agreed the same completion date? Are you willing to issue a deadline of say exchange contracts 4pm on such and such day or you're walking away? it is a strategy that often brings the truth out. It is just as frustrating for the conveyancer believe me. When parties don't return calls it leaves us all wondering what is going on. Estate Agents can be very helpful for phoning up and down chains but some solicitors look down on estate agents and won't take their call. I always take estate agent calls, they are necessary. Good luck for Exchanging very soon. Enjoy your new house!

@getupdressandshowup Yes I am in touch with the buyer, they signed the contracts and sent the deposit Tuesday last week, they buyer and I agreed a completion date of this Friday, early last week, but because of the lack of response from their solicitor, that will not happen.

They just don't return calls or answer emails.

Blooper

Your estate agent could ask your Buyer to phone/email the senior partner of the firm they've instructed and say they wish to make a formal complaint for the delay caused by the solicitor handling the case. Once my firm has the deposit and a signed contract we try to exchange immediately and get the completion date 'legally binding'. Your buyers are the ones who can make this achieve Exchange. I assume there are mortgages involved throughout the chain. Most lenders do want/need 4 or 5 days notice to draw down and release the mortgage advance so realistically the minimum period that can be achieved is usually one complete working week. Often, lenders can be approached to 'rush' the release of funds but that introduces uncertainty and extra worry to all in the chain as the mortgage money might not be in the solicitors account when needed. So many times I act for clients who want a quick completion so I press forwards and then ask them for the deposit or the final balance to cover the top-up money needed to cover Land Registry, Stamp Duty and other money needed to be able to complete and the client then says they need more time because they are working or not able to phone the bank or their bank has security n place that limits the daily amount the customer can move to us unless the customer pays the bank's admin fee. Generally I guide my clients that they need to get their payments to us the day before completion or even two days before completion as this hopefully avoids panic situations. Perhaps someone in the chain is almost ready to exchange but not quite. Perhaps a conveyancer has been off sick or out of the office and their colleague was not aware of the urgency. Breakdown in communication probably. Althought it is not your Est Agt's fault, contact your Agt every few hours or twice per day and ask that they press your Buyer ( not the Solicitor). Clients hold the power.

@getupdressandshowup Thank you, the buyer has been chasing their solicitor daily via phone and email, but nothing. It really is incredibly frustrating. I am at a bit of a loss as everyone is chasing them, they simply do not respond until they want to.

I will suggest the buyer contacts the Senior Partner if there is yet again no response today.

It will have taken us 15 weeks by the time completion comes around.

We were ready 6 weeks in, and it is so frustrating, as we are not in a chain.

Best thing you can do is keep on at the solicitors and estate agents.

Good luck

It's been 16 weeks for us. 3 in the chain. It's been horrendous. Supposedly exchanging this week...

Ours was just over 14 weeks. Our vendors stalled because they wanted to have a party over a bank holiday weekend before they moved out. They didn't tell us this though.

We were in a chain of three houses. Oh and on completion day, the vendors' solicitor pissed off out for lunch and left us waiting for two hours before confirming receipt of funds. We sat in a cafe down the road, 'rich' (having completed our sale) but homeless for a while.

It's not much of a consolation when you're waiting and waiting like waiting for a kettle to boil but the care is being taken so the chain doesn't suffer a major fluff up on the completion day. That is much much worse than the waiting to exchange. Remember, people don't HAVE to move on a Friday. Completions can occur much more quickly and therefore earlier in the day on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday as the banks and the conveyancers are less busy with completions. Just saying. I'll never ever move house on a Friday. Too busy, too frantic, too risky for something in a chain to go wrong and leave me with no home over a weekend. Triple those worries for a completion on a working day before a Bank Holiday weekend. AVOID AVOID AVOID. I hate the Friday before August Bank Holiday with a passion. I speak from experience of a chain where my clients were in the middle and the bottom messed up and left 2 lots of people with their belongings in removal vans/storage lock-ups over the Bank Holiday weekend. Come the Tuesday the poor people were so upset. Long weekend. All their clothes and other belongings locked away. I detest long chains of transactions.

Luckily our chain is short, out buyer is a FTB, and the house we are moving to is new and empty.

We are also waiting to exchange. No chain as our buyers are FTB and we are moving into rented. 7 weeks since offer accepted, no sign of date for exchange yet, which I know is not long in the scheme of things but I swear the conveyancing process is no more efficient than when I bought my first house over 20 years ago, despite the wonders of the internet and 24 hour connectivity