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Original poster

Are OH solicitors being ridiculous?

42 replies

blobby10 · 15/12/2021 09:58

OH has sold his house to a couple (FTB). OH is moving in with me for a few weeks so no chain. There has been some delay in getting all the necessary paperwork - a combination of shoddy solicitors when he bought it, him fannying around but more unfortunately not dealing with stuff due to MH issues. All sorted now - buyers always said they wanted to be in by Christmas. Three weeks ago (with no definite date or information from either side) OH booked removals firm to go into storage for 23rd as it was the only available date.

Two days ago he gets an email saying they want to exchange and complete this friday (17th) but OH can't find any removal firm free plus he's paid a 60% deposit to the original firm! Solicitors have said they can't complete on 23rd as there won't be anyone to sort it out next day if anything goes wrong. OH is just accepting of this!!!!

Am I unreasonable to think the solicitors are taking the piss and both parties should be pushing for completion on 23rd? For one, how likely is it that anything will go wrong in a two person transaction? And two, business should trump Christmas parties!!

OP posts:

CheesyFootballsAreEvil · 15/12/2021 12:18

@blobby10

Findingthelight I didn't have all the information which was why I asked the question 'are the solicitors being ridiculous?'. Now posters have been kind enough to explain that it isn't as simple as I believed it to be I agree they are not being ridiculous.

Yes things should have been done differently but they haven't been - please don't disparage someone who has been through a tough time without knowing the full story. I witnessed it over the course of 6 months. It was horrific.

Yes apologies I was a bit harsh. I hope this is the new start for him and brings you both joy and happiness.

Original poster

blobby10 · 15/12/2021 12:25

CheesyFootballsAreEvil thank you - he isn't living with me permanently as we would end up hating/killing each other! But can cope with a few weeks. I just hope this new start is going to bring him the happiness he deserves 🤞

OP posts:

tara66 · 15/12/2021 12:26

The buyers have only given him 5 days notice to move out of the house - not reasonable at all especially with Covid and Xmas. He should just tell them it cannot be done.

CheesyFootballsAreEvil · 15/12/2021 12:31

@blobby10

CheesyFootballsAreEvil thank you - he isn't living with me permanently as we would end up hating/killing each other!

But can cope with a few weeks. I just hope this new start is going to bring him the happiness he deserves 🤞

It's good of you to take him in for a bit while he gets on his feet

Beautiful3 · 15/12/2021 12:33

I would ask for a completion after Christmas.

Gonnagetgoing · 15/12/2021 12:33

having worked with a conveyancing sols for 5 years we almost always tried to get clients to leave until after Christmas/New Year period because:-

a) Sols firms (esp smaller one) vast majority shut down for at least 1-2 weeks over Xmas - therefore lots of work won't get done and is left until after New Year - the legal bookkeeper/PA/Sec won't be around to type up redemption statements/deal with queries/lenders etc.
b) lenders other side sols etc are super busy with sorting out mortgage requests/statements/other legal cases and there's lots of pressure on all sides.
c) too much potential for things to go wrong/stress involved - we had one locum (stand in for sol who was away) sol just before Xmas who messed up a client's job something to do with redemption statement from mortgagee and clients had to stay in a hotel overnight - bear in mind this is extremely rare for this to happen!

but lots of clients like to be in/out of a new home before Xmas - they want to spend it in/out of a new home with Christmas tree and have Christmas in their new house.

I'd get your OH to move to after Xmas/New Year.

HandlebarLadyTash · 15/12/2021 12:36

@tara66

The buyers have only given him 5 days notice to move out of the house - not reasonable at all especially with Covid and Xmas. He should just tell them it cannot be done.

This

Findingthelight1 · 15/12/2021 13:39

They haven't really just given him 5 days notice though, if they always said it would be before Christmas.

Yes, it's 5 days notice of a specific date, but that's pretty normal (unfortunately) in the current climate. It was even worse last year when so many exchanges and completions were happening on the same day due to Covid.

We had 48hrs notice for our move, which was not fun at all.

I guess the choice is, accept it's a bit shit, rally the troops and move into storage this week - or ask for post-Xmas completion but piss off the buyers. Neither is ideal.

MinnieMountain · 15/12/2021 13:58

Friday is generally popular because it gives people the weekend to get their new home sorted. Obviously there are exceptions.

Gonnagetgoing · 15/12/2021 14:01

@MinnieMountain

Friday is generally popular because it gives people the weekend to get their new home sorted. Obviously there are exceptions.

@MinnieMountain - and because mortgagees/solicitors aren't usually around to sort out any issues - only estate agents

But yes, generally Fridays are the preferred days all-round by everyone in the chain, not only the buyers/sellers because it gives you the weekend to get everything sorted.

Orangecrisp · 15/12/2021 14:03

I think it there is a problem with completion the money can only be held by the solicitor for a couple of days before it’s sent back. So if there is an issue it’s going to be several days or even a week before solicitors are working again. As shown up thread there’s plenty that can go wrong.

Why cant he hire storage now? Most units allow you to move stuff in the same day. He could be moved by Monday.

MinnieMountain · 15/12/2021 14:26

Are you an estate agent @Gonnagetgoing?

Original poster

blobby10 · 15/12/2021 14:40

Orangecrisp he has lots of big furniture so needs professionals to move, pack and transport to their storage facility. Its definitely not something he and I can do between us and shift to a unit somewhere. On the plus side, he doesn't have boxes of 'stuff' or memories like many of us especially when you add children into the mix!

Solicitors have come back and buyers have agreed a date of 5th January so all good now.

Thank you so much to those who provided such an insight into the workings of the whole completion/money transfer process - have learned a lot! Its a good job I'm never moving again so won't need to go through it

OP posts:

Gonnagetgoing · 15/12/2021 16:06

@MinnieMountain

Are you an estate agent *@Gonnagetgoing*?

@MinnieMountain - good god no!

Used to work for sols as legal sec/PA for 5 years, they wanted me to train as a paralegal/legal exec but it wasn't much more money than legal sec/PA (and was more training) and I wasn't that interested in conveyancing to be honest. My boss if I'd done that would also have kept me as Legal sec/PA and paralegal doing that but with not much payrise. Most straight forward conveyancing transactions follow a certain stage, it's only if there are issues or complex ones like to do with leases etc that a more experienced conveyancing solicitor who knows conveyancing law inside out and is up to date with it, comes into their own.

Estate agents on the whole are quite stupid and driven by commission. You get the odd one who is intelligent and if I could be bothered to explain to them the process - e.g. we need to send out report with details to buyers who approve and then after that comes exchange when both sols sides exchange contracts and then completion when money is released from lenders so buyers can buy the house...if money is released late etc it can delay completion.

Mostly estate agents were so focussed on their commission cheque that they didn't realise all the stages (including even the first ones which included searches, sols needing money on account from buyers etc) and how it impacted us. Selling is also tricky but slightly simpler.

We used to actually sometimes give a whole load of questions from the report on the property which the other side sols hadn't bothered or were slow in answering to the estate agents and get estate agents to chase them up over it, which they were happy to do and got them off our back, and it actually gave us less work to do with otherside then!

Gonnagetgoing · 15/12/2021 16:08

@blobby10

Solicitors have come back and buyers have agreed a date of 5th January so all good now.

God that's a relief and best all round!

Conveyancing (completion and money transfer) is all well and good but really only interesting to the parties who work in it, not your every day Joe Bloggs!

Fleur405 · 15/12/2021 18:56

@blobby10

Fleur405 thank you - that makes sense. Still seems weird when so many completions take place on a Friday!

Yeah I know - I guess that normally everything is totally tee’d up for the Friday and in this case it sounds everything is a bit last minute.

I think the issue is Christmas Eve plus the weekend plus the two bank holidays. I think it’s just unlucky but the way Christmas dates fall this year it really is a terrible date.

It’s unfortunate because I do agree that if they really wanted to they probably could make it happen but I also see their perspective and I wouldn’t exactly say they are taking the piss. Part of the issue will be that we solicitors are expected/used to giving up our (allegedly!) free time/missing stuff to meet client demands - but cash transfers and completions need support staff and they probably feel they can’t expect someone from the cash room to change Christmas Eve plans.

mindutopia · 16/12/2021 00:04

We exchanged last week (not completing til the new year). Sellers and us have no chain either direction. We’re in rented and they are moving into another property they already own. We’re both really keen, all searches fine and everything really straightforward. It still took us 4 days to actually exchange after the date we both agreed to exchange!! Their solicitor was on holiday, then the other solicitor had to leave early to do the school run, estate agent home with dc who were poorly and unable to push things along. A process that should have literally taken a couple hours just went on and on for days. And that was just a relatively uncomplicated exchange (without completion).

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