How slow is your solicitor

[crispyleaf]

I am trying to sell my house. What's getting so frustrating is the solicitor I am using is taking a long time (or just not bothering) to answer my calls or emails.

I'm wondering if I need to change them or if as I've heard all property solicitors are sooo busy I can expect an answer super slowly.

We were buying but ours were SO slow. Instructed in February but was like pulling teeth. They blamed COVID but I was like "don't furlough your staff if you're busy".

Took two weeks to get an answer last time, and I phone and emailed to chase them up in the meantime...

The buyer hasn’t even had the survey yet - we’re just getting to the end of the searches/ enquiries 😫. Was supposed to be a quick sale on both sides...!

Ours are super efficient. Every email (and I'm a first time seller so had a LOT of questions!) is answered within a couple of hours. They chase us for signed paperwork! We got our house on the market within 2 weeks of enquiring, sold within a day, and bought another at the same time.

If you can switch to another firm without financial loss, do it!

Conyancing solicitors are nortoriously slow in general.

Mine get back either via email or phone within 48hrs. They’re good and very nice. Quite pricey but came recommended and I’m pleased I’ve gone with them.

My last one was a horror show. Swapped twice within firm during process as one person got fired and another went on sick leave with stress. The fact I know these details says a lot about the firm. Also had them be very rude and call me “uneducated” when I asked them to explain something as a first time buyer.

My current buyer has the worlds most difficult to contact solicitor according to my very responsive EA.

I used an online company two years ago to remortgage and they were pretty responsive via email and very professional, but it was a simple process so no chasing required.

Mileage obviously varies, as with all professions!

Ah quite varied then. I am a first time seller so also confused. Although I think my expectations are fair. I called yesterday and no answer. Called again and receptionist said she'd call back later. 4 hours later no response so I call again, politely lost my questions again and am told there will be a call back. Close of business nothing call once more and told to email query.
This morning wait until 12, no acknowledgement of email. Call and put through to voicemail.

Not sure I can handle all of this. Would happily pay more right now just to get the whole thing on the go instead of this. Still no response.

List my question not lost!

Ours are good. We stumbled across our solicitor on our last house purchase & she frankly was the only thing that stopped it taking about 5 years to complete. She’s so on the ball & pushy. So we relocated her at a different firm this time & she’s been excellent again so far. Our searches have come back remarkably quickly so far. I was expecting them to take weeks & weeks as everyone has said they are so slow but she told us she knows who to talk too 😂 and so far, we’ve had several back within 8 days. I’m astonished..

I’d say she has a 24-48 hour turnaround on enquiries. Her assistant is really helpful as well, she often responds on behalf. We are paying a bit more than others offered but worth it.

Glacial with emails and paperwork, but answers the phone on the second ring. Unfortunately I hate using the phone!

Still better than my last solicitor though - didn't answer phone or email, didn't spot potential problems with the deeds and didn't actually register the sale. Oh, and overcharged and didn't send an invoice justifying the charges when I asked. So by contrast current solicitor seems like a paragon...

Mine is really very good. She answers emails quickly and always calls back. But she is expensive

Mine were amazing. I always opt for the solicitor the estate agent recommends because they tend to be recommended for good reasons. However if your entire chain is using conveyancing companies rather than proper solicitors it’s possible your solicitor is doing a lot of grunt work behind the scenes.

We are selling and buying. Our solicitors are pretty good, they respond quickly to queries and I’m happy with them so far. Our vendor’s solicitors are terrible though-they’ve done nothing in eight weeks, a draft contract hasn’t been issued and we’re not even at the searches stage. Very very frustrating.

If you are not happy I would definitely change
Or try complaining to the Managing partner
As with most things you often get what you pay for

I think I will have to complain. The solicitor is a partner. Still haven't had any response. Onto day 3 for the same query as a result tomorrow. Sigh. It's going to be hard work isn't it.
I'm going to ring around then and see if I can switch to someone a bit less slothful.

Get the estate agent to hassle them and earn their massive fee.

Ours are good. Very quick responses. She came highly recommended though on our local Facebook page. Vendor's solicitor in contrast seems to work at a glacial pace... frustrating.

Our solicitors on our first house were irritatingly slow - we used the Estate Agent recommended ones which were a flat fee and it became apparent they just didn't want to do lots of work because the amount they were being paid was minimal in the grand scheme of things. In the end we got the mobile number for the guy we were buying from so we could text between us and figure out whether it was our or his solicitor who was slowing things up at any given time (both were slowpokes!).

Buying/selling now and our solicitors are a lot better but we asked people for recommendations and were a bit more organised about things and choosing a conveyancer wasn't an afterthought!

Honestly the English housing market is tedious at the best of time but many of the solicitors / conveyancers make it even more so! Generally I think 24-48hrs is an acceptable response time. Good luck!

@thehousefinder

Ours are good. Our solicitor has a trainee by his side plus an assistant, so it's very rare any queries go unanswered for over an hour.

So it's day 3 not a peep from solicitors. Managed to get my answer from Rstate agents. Whether or not I believe them is another matter!