Can you actually relax once you've exchanged contracts? What about if there's a useless solicitor in the chain?

[SanityDecreasing]

Hi,

So we're still trying to exchange after months and months and it wasn't due to lockdown. It is simply because one of the links has an absolutely terrible solicitor!

We have all unofficially agreed a completion date, but said solicitor will not return anyone's calls to lock it in and make it official. Including our solicitor, their client and our EA, so we're floating around watching the days goes by, feeling anxious as hell that it won't ever actually happen!

I'm pressing our EA to keep calling, but apparently this solicitor is notoriously bad and so what could have been dealt with weeks ago, is still dragging on completely unnecessarily.

Our buyers (bottom of the chain) are ready to send across the deposit. The shit solicitors client knows that they're good to go, so they don't understand what's going on.

If, by some miracle, we do exchange this week, can we actually breathe a sigh of relief? I don't feel like we can. What if on completion day the solicitor remain incompetent and completion can't go ahead and we're all stuck on our sellers drive way with our removals guys and all our possessions, but can't get in?!

So nervous. It's going to be a very long couple of weeks

Does anyone have any words of reassurance or just any words of experience?

TIA

We had to phone our solicitor daily and we actually collected and posted paperwork ourselves. It's so frustrating. You cant just leave them to it. It seems they need pestering constantly.
Good luck.

The situation you described sitting on drives with removal men is common. Waiting for all the money to transfer through a chain takes a while.

We had money through for ours and our solicitor sent money for our new one but the people in our new house wouldn't leave until their money had gone through for their new house as they had 2 kids and didn't want to be stuck with nowhere to go. Luckily we knew them and didn't really mind as we had hired our own vans etc and had no kids at the time so was easier for us to wait. We all sat in the garden waiting

Once you’ve exchanged, they risk losing a 10% deposit to the other person in the contract if they don’t move on the agreed date. So they’ll pretty much have to. Timings on the day can be a bit tricky with a chain, but just be prepared for a bit of give and take on that front. Everyone’s money should be where it should be by mid-afternoon so try not to stress

Thanks for the replies.

I was prepared for the waiting around on the drive way scenario, but am just worried that it doesn't go ahead at all that day and we'll have nowhere to go.

SanityDecreasing

Hi,

So we're still trying to exchange after months and months and it wasn't due to lockdown. It is simply because one of the links has an absolutely terrible solicitor!

We have all unofficially agreed a completion date, but said solicitor will not return anyone's calls to lock it in and make it official. Including our solicitor, their client and our EA, so we're floating around watching the days goes by, feeling anxious as hell that it won't ever actually happen!

You can work towards a date, but you can't unofficially agree a date until the legal work is done and the solicitor asks you for your preference. When a solicitor goes incommunicado, it means that something is preventing them from proceeding. It's not usually because they don't want to lock in a date, but because something is outstanding.

I'm pressing our EA to keep calling, but apparently this solicitor is notoriously bad and so what could have been dealt with weeks ago, is still dragging on completely unnecessarily.

Without knowing exactly what it is that is dragging, you do not know whether it is something than could have been done weeks ago or not.

Our buyers (bottom of the chain) are ready to send across the deposit.

Their solicitor is not ready to receive it, or they want all completion monies. If the solicitors are agreeing on a simultaneous exchange and completion date, then a deposit is not required, instead the full amount including lender's funds and the solicitor's fees would need to be in the solicitor's client account the day before.

The shit solicitors client knows that they're good to go so they don't understand what's going on.

"good to go" is an irrelevant term invented by estate agents who actually don't know whether you're good to go or not.

If, by some miracle, we do exchange this week, can we actually breathe a sigh of relief? I don't feel like we can. What if on completion day the solicitor remain incompetent and completion can't go ahead and we're all stuck on our sellers drive way with our removals guys and all our possessions, but can't get in?!

It's recommended at the current time to exchange very close (or simultaneously) to completion so that the possibility of someone not providing funds or falling ill with covid-19 is reduced. It means that no-one is in breach of contract if completion cannot go ahead and therefore no-one would lose their deposits. They may, however, lose the money owed on removals (which would be a lot less than a 10% deposit).

So nervous. It's going to be a very long couple of weeks confused

Does anyone have any words of reassurance or just any words of experience?

Please accept that solicitors are not usually notoriously bad, just that buyers/sellers and EAs always think it will take a lot less time than it actually does. I do speak from experience - I work as a conveyancing assistant under the supervision of an experienced solicitor.

TIA

We had this last year one of the solicitors was a nightmare after investigation she was a conveyancer working for a large chain rather than a solicitor and I think she just had too many files on her desk. We ended up calling several times daily and basically just pushing the sale through. We also contacted our seller direct as it was her conveyancer holding things up and she was blissfully unaware of some of the outstanding issues. Once we'd spoken to her direct things moved fairly rapidly. We exchanged that week and moved the following week. Hang in there it's worth it in the end.

like any profession, there are crap solicitors. If they won't even do any work for their client, the person in the chain who is paying for them , it is pretty desperate. This person needs to escalate to the practice boss. If Mr or Mrs do-no-work IS the boss, change solicitor quickly

once you have exchange everyone is legally committed, but a solicitor that bad may still go off and play golf on the day and the money won't move.

Yes you can breathe a sigh of relief because there is a huge financial penalty if they don’t complete as per the contract. So either way it goes ahead or you’re quids in, it’s very very rare it doesn’t go ahead. Even with a shit solictitor.

What if on completion day the solicitor remain incompetent and completion can't go ahead and we're all stuck on our sellers drive way with our removals guys and all our possessions, but can't get in?!

Then you find a hotel and you pay the removal company to store your stuff overnight. Nothing is ever certain - no one can 100% guarantee to you that the vendors will move out, or the house won't burn down on the morning of completion.

We sat on the drive for hours because our chain branched further down. Our buyer was getting divorced so they were selling one house and buying two. The husband's solicitor completed their sale and the husband's purchase early on, but apparently forgot about transferring the money for the wife's purchase, and went AWOL. The wife and everyone one her side of the chain had a very long wait with much frantic phone calling trying to get her (our) branch of the chain moving. But we did get in, in the end. We also had one where we arrived at the property and found the vendors' car blocking the drive. The vendors were abroad, the neighbours didn't have a car key. That was good fun. But we got past that too. You just need to keep your eyes on the big picture and try not to fret about stuff you can't control.

There are lots of cheap conveyancing services. We once bought a house and the vendor was using a cheap online service. Absolutely useless. My cat could have done a better job.

Well we've just had another spanner thrown in the works...

Apparently someone in the chain needs to get their mortgage amended 🤦‍♀️ Bear in mind that two days ago they agreed an exchange date....so where has this come from?! It makes no sense to me.

Mortgage offers generally only last 6 months so if some parts of the chain have been trundling along for a while their offer might have expired. We came close to the six months due to the vendors of our house not seeming to realise that they would actually have to move out.

I'm in the process of buying and selling. I'm also a property lawyer (although not residential). Speaking to the EA, she's hearing of lenders withdrawing or changing mortgage offers overnight without warning or offers being issued that are valid for only four weeks rather than the normal three/six months. As you said, this has been going on for months and, with the pandemic thrown in, I don't think it's surprising that a buyer would need to renew their mortgage offer but hopefully it's just a formality.

As for solicitors not responding and holding things up, it obviously differs from case to case but there are loads of legitimate reasons (many out of their control) why they might not be responding and delaying exchange. That said, a bit of professional courtesy with a quick call or email to the other side to keep them in the loop wouldn't hurt (even if it's just to say I'm swamped but will come back to you on X). Sadly you don't always get that!

In Scotland (not sure about England) residential solicitors work completely differently from commercial, can be quite "old school" in approach and it's not unusual for there to be a slow start with much of the work happening close to concluding the contract and completion. Very frustrating at one of the most stressful times in a buyer's life! Unfortunately my own firm doesn't offer residential conveyancing so have had to pick a solicitor elsewhere. Fingers crossed he's going to be responsive and on top of everything or I'll be on wanting to do the conveyancing myself!