Speeding up slow solicitors

[HDDD]

Any tips for speeding up slow solicitors?
How have you managed to get them to get their fingers out?
Context - I'm the seller. No chain. Going into week 8 and my patience is wearing thin.

What stage are you up to?

Has the buyer had their mortgage offer. Have they done the survey. Have you filled in the fixtures and fittings list? Have they done searches? Do you have an estate agent handling the sale. If so they should br kicking the solicitors on both sides weekly

What's been done so far? I'm 5 weeks in from offers being accepted. Fixtures/fittings have been completed, searches are now being undertaken & solicitors have 'draft contracts'..

It's the same way as with tortoises.

You maybe able to provoke them to be a bit quicker for a short amount of time but they slow down again at the sight of lettuce - as do tortoises.

It's not just your solicitor though.

There are other parties involved in your transaction, from which information and paperwork is required. Your solicitor can be quickest of all, but it won't make the transaction go any quicker if one or more of the other parties is slow to respond. The seller's solicitor is very much held to the buyer's solicitor's turnaround time, since it will be the buyer's solicitor who decides when they are ready, not your solicitor.

Other parties involved:
The buyer
Any downward sale
The buyer's Solicitor
The EA(s)
The lender, for both you and the buyer
Any parties gifting funds
The Council for building regs/planning documents
The search agent for obtaining searches for the buyer
The Land Registry, any issues on the title
AML checks for you and the buyer
Checking the buyer's funds
The surveyor, for the buyer's survey
Obtaining other paperwork, such as solar panels, Fensa Certificates etc.

You cannot speed up your solicitor. The more you try to 'help', the more the solicitor is interrupted in their work. Use the EA for chasing.

I also spoke to my solicitor once and asked what else needed to be done. She reeled off a ton of stuff that I didn’t even know about.

Use the estate agents. The quicker they get a completion date the quicker they get paid so they are willing to work for you. You can call and ask if they have heard anything their end, it normally prompts them to call around.

"I also spoke to my solicitor once" That would be nice!
An update, a phone call, them telling me where things are up to and what to expect when would be amazing!
I AM chasing estate agents too. No chain. Mortage offer in v early doors. My forms filled in v early doors. Searches in. Nothing outstanding that I know of. I just want an update.

And I am very aware of not wanting to interrupt the solicitor (or pee them off and send me to the bottom of the pile). Radio silence is so painful though.

OP that must be hard.

We last bought 12 years ago and the solicitors updated at every stage. they had a table of actions and would add a little tick to the box every time an action was completed.

From everything I hear, that's now not the fashion and radio silence is more likely.

Fingers crossed you hear something soon.

@DaisyNGO That's exactly the kind of thing I'm after! I've even thought if someone could come up with a cloud based system that allowed exactly that that conveyancers added a small fee on to a job for I'd probably be far less stressed now

Ours only contacts us when he’s got something to tell us and he doesn’t consider the little things we’d like to know as “things to tell us”. It’s like pulling teeth!

Its generally due to waiting on searches and if they spend time updating you they will then be charging you more.

@cloudtree searches all back a few weeks ago. I don't want drip-feeding, I want a state of play update. I don't think I'm being unreasonable

Wish I knew. Our offer was accepted beginning of June. No chain. Utter madness how long it's taking!!

[quote HDDD]@DaisyNGO That's exactly the kind of thing I'm after! I've even thought if someone could come up with a cloud based system that allowed exactly that that conveyancers added a small fee on to a job for I'd probably be far less stressed now[/quote]
And it's so easy. No fancy software needed. I think it's probably partly about how relentless work culture is.

glasto have you heard nowt since your offer was accepted?

@glastogal That's shocking!

I've heard stuff, we are almost there in theory.. the sellers solicitor has had our enquiries for almost 2 months 🙄 they aren't terribly responsive to chasing

I definitely advocate using your EA to push both sides of the solicitors equation to find out what’s going on?

We had a trying to beat the stamp duty deadline in June thread where I think the solicitors were the stressors for most of us. Luckily I had one that does an online tick box so could work out what we were awaiting.

Our solicitors were actually very good but it was only in reaction to me asking for something, rather than them contacting me unpoked.

I think you have just chosen rubbish solicitors if you are not getting weekly updates. We’ve recently sold two house (ours and my late parents house) using two different solicitors and both firms gave us regular updates without us having to ask. I could PM you their details if you like. Out of interest how did you choose your solicitors in the first place? We went by recommendations both times from previous happy customers.

You have the wrong strategy. You are operating as if your solicitors will reward you for being nice and not bothering them. Think about it, where is their incentive to help you?

The squeaky wheel gets the oil. Call them every day. You need to make it more painful for them not to answer you than it is for them to answer you. If they begin to realise you will call them every day until you get an update they will eventually give you an update and maybe even progress your transaction. As that may be the only way to shut you up! Stop being nice, start getting what you want!

At the moment if you phoned me every day I would withdraw from acting for you
HTH

Tbh, if the OP has a lawyer who is doing nothing at all, them withdrawing might be a boon.

I had this and have gone from last week being told "please be patient, another 12-14 weeks" (No chain, selling to ftb, no onwards purchase) to now looking to exchange this week through relentless chasing.

No need to be rude, but end of the day they are professionals and are providing you with a service.

Firstly, check if you've sent everything you need and ask them to confirm they are not waiting for anything from you. Also ask your estate agent to ask other party's solicitor what they are waiting for - try to establish where the delay is.

If it is your side, then ask your solicitor for a list of actions they will be undertaking and concrete timelines for when this will happen - follow up with them and via EA to check this has been done.

If you're not getting responses or they're fobbing you off, you are well within your rights to ask for the escalation process details or contact a senior partner and ask to be moved to a solicitor with a more manageable workload!

You are paying the solicitor and the estate agent a lot of money, don't be shy about demanding attention from them!