Solicitor refusing to estimate a timeframe for exchange

[Bodgejobvendors]

Our buyer is twitchy and we may need to break a chain and move into rented.

We’ve asked our solicitor for a ball park best case scenario of when we may be able to exchange on our onward purchase.

She is refusing to give any kind of estimate and insists that her practice is to not do so until all parties are ready to avoid disappointment.

Is this normal? We now can’t plan at all.

More the latter, but even if wires are crossed a normal helpful response would be to say “we still need to do searches, they are taking roughly x weeks at present, we can’t know if there will be any enquiries or complications. In my experience it’s very unlikely we can even think about moving towards exchange before my/yy.”