Disastrous reviews for purchaser's solicitors

[Paleandetiolated]

I am in the process of selling my flat in the South-West of England and have accepted a low offer from property investors who also live in the South-West.

They have informed the estate agent that they're using a law firm in Manchester that has the most appalling reviews with repeated comments about their inability to respond to phone calls or emails and the fact that the conveyancing has been inefficient, drawn out and stressful.

I am really reluctant to enter into a contract with these people knowing that the process is likely to be even more stressful than usual, should I just refuse to sell to them?

@Paleandetiolated

Alarm bells would be ringing for me! It sounds very much that your estate agent is in cahoots and friends with the ‘property investors’, hence your low offer. They are not acting in your best interests - and they are your clients, but clearly favouring the prospective purchasers....and possibly getting a kick-back from them too.

It is absolutely outrageous and beyond the pale that they are contacting your family members!

I would withdraw from the sale and put in on with another local estate agency in the New Year or early Spring. You will most likely find you get a better price for your flat too.

Hiya. I used PPL for my Sale. I was reluctant at first (yes the reviews are awful), but they were fantastic. I was always able to get hold of my Solicitor (if he was in a call, he would always contact me back). I have had awful experience using some high street solicitors where you can only speak to a PA. The great thing with PPL is you get a direct line to your Solicitor.

@paleandetiolated ...how do the agents know your family? Sounds very strange and I don't understand how they would have access to your family to put pressure on. Anyway, if it were me, I would be taking the property of the market for a bit if you don't get what you want, dispensing with their services and threatening them with solicitors if they keep hassling you. Doesn't sound like you are going to get the change of conveyancers you want, and their attitude is definitely suspicious.

@Paleandetiolated

The situation has got infinitely worse, the agents have got my family members to put pressure on me to sell as well. I'm finding it really hard to get my head around it, nobody else but me has any financial interest in the place and yet they all think they can tell me what to do.

I have told the agents I'm withdrawing it from the market but they have ignored my emails.

This sounds dodgy.

Want to bet the agent knows the buyer personally.

Hassling family members to put pressure on you is harassment. I would be hitting the roof and asking wtf is going on and telling them if they persist I will consider legal options.

Get it off the market and use another agent to sell.

This stinks to high heaven.

I’m with @RedToothBrush, the agent knows the buyers and promised them something if you’re getting this much grief.

You’re doing all the right things, going to your family members is atrocious behaviour.

Get it off the market and use another agent, and think about leaving them an online review about the harassment

I almost feel like giving in and letting them sell it at the grossly reduced price, it's causing me such stress and misery and has caused a rift in my family (which is completely dysfunctional anyway.) They never give me any support but are always first to put the boot in when something goes wrong.

You must report the estate agent and withdraw it from their books. You do NOT have to put up with this behaviour.

@Paleandetiolated

I almost feel like giving in and letting them sell it at the grossly reduced price, it's causing me such stress and misery and has caused a rift in my family (which is completely dysfunctional anyway.) They never give me any support but are always first to put the boot in when something goes wrong.

Thats precisely why they are targeting your family members.

I'm pretty sure it would fall under aggressive practices of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations which is unlawful.

I would contact trading standards citing aggressive practices and asking them to look into it. This isn't ok.

They should only be dealing with you over the sale as you are the only one authorised to sell. By contacting family members they are pressuring and trying to coercise you to sell. And the fact its at a low price sets off even more alarm bells especially since they aren't responding to you directly.

I would also call them out directly on it, and say if they don't take the property off the market immediately as instructed you will take it further with trading standards over their aggressive sales practices.

We used PPL. They were brilliant tbh. Made the whole situation so much easier & less stressful with being able to do it all online. We could upload documents instead of faffing about printing things off & sending them recorded delivery at the post office. I've completed many property transactions & most solicitors are crap tbh, but these were better because conveyancing finally came into this century!

I don't know who PPL are, they are not the solicitors that the purchasers are using.

@FuckYouCorona

We used PPL. They were brilliant tbh. Made the whole situation so much easier & less stressful with being able to do it all online. We could upload documents instead of faffing about printing things off & sending them recorded delivery at the post office. I've completed many property transactions & most solicitors are crap tbh, but these were better because conveyancing finally came into this century!

You might think that they are wonderful but many in the conveyancing world don't share your view. My solicitor-friend got really hacked off with them because he had to do his work and a lot of PPL's to get the job over the line. It got to the stage where he was contemplating refusing to act if PPL were on the other side of the conveyance.

The agent just hung up on me as he said I was rude! I was asking why the property hadn't been withdrawn from the market and he was making a lot of excuses and then when I told him to get on with it, he got really aggressive.

@Paleandetiolated

The situation has got infinitely worse, the agents have got my family members to put pressure on me to sell as well. I'm finding it really hard to get my head around it, nobody else but me has any financial interest in the place and yet they all think they can tell me what to do.

I have told the agents I'm withdrawing it from the market but they have ignored my emails.

How do they even have contact with your family members? I'd fire them for that alone.

I'd drop the EA too, they are bang out of order & are clearly in cahoots with your buyer.

I've had something similar in the past ... I switched EA due to their behaviour & ended up selling for a better price a short time later

Just echoing some others here - how does this estate agent have access to your family members? And it's YOUR property, of course they can't force you to proceed with the sale against your wishes. Email them, state in writing that you wish your property to be removed from the market IMMEDIATELY and that if they continue to refuse and/or continue to speak with your family to get them to put pressure on you then you will pursue legal options. Don't be bullied OP!

Exactly the same experience. We sold through Purple Bricks (which actually worked well) but had already been told to avoid their solicitors like the plague. Sadly no one told our first time buyers this, so they instructed PPL and it was an absolute nightmare. Constant issues with our solicitor trying to get hold of someone at their end and just no reply for days on end. Took us 5 days to exchange due to this lack of contact on their side every time. It was unbelievably stressful. To add insult to injury I tried to leave a negative review detailing this on Trustpilot but they wouldn't publish the review as it wasn't us that instructed them.

Stick to your guns OP!

@Paleandetiolated

The agent just hung up on me as he said I was rude! I was asking why the property hadn't been withdrawn from the market and he was making a lot of excuses and then when I told him to get on with it, he got really aggressive.

Sounds like you need to send a clear polite email asking him to withdraw the listing by 5pm today and you have given formal notice of him marketing the property.