Help! Am I impatient or solicitor slow?

[DevilMayCare999]

Hi everyone! Sorry for the long ish post, I really need some perspectives on this as I really don't know if I am being unreasonable - and the stress was driving me nuts!!

We are moving house - DH and I put an offer and accepted at the very beginning of December 2022.

After offer accepted, memo of sale issued, I have immediately instructed a solicitor (all finances sorted, nothing to sell as we sold previously and moved back with mom and dad) and survey booked.

Now here is the stress! Immediately after offer accepted DH and I have sent all documents to solicitor including ID, bank statements etc. This ID/AML has been painfully slow - I thought ok this is Christmas, she might not be taking it slow or has loads of work, kids, family etc we've all been there. She asked very few questions because our finances are straightforward from payslips. It was just she took a couple of days per email she sent.

Finally after a month our file was cleared - right taking almost the whole December!

Back to work this week, I chased again for searches which she replies yes she will be ordering searches, but she never asked me to pay any money on account for searches! I asked again if she needs any payment from me again no replies received.

Everyday I wait for her reply, it is just giving me more stress. 😭😭😭

Should I change solicitor at this point? What else can I do? Thank you everybody.

Sorry stress typo! *she might be taking it slow

Has she actually had the contract from the seller’s solicitor? You wouldn't order searches before that.

Yes just checked with DH he said drafted contract sent in mid December

DH dealt with the agent, at least the agents said mid-Dec! 😬😬

Our solicitor replies within an hour and ID and deposit for searches is sorted within a few days.

Have you received the title deeds? Has she raised any enquiries yet?

Personally I'd find your solicitor painfully slow, are they particularly cheap/online conveyancer?

I work for a solicitor. All I would say is estate agents can be very economical with the truth.

Sounds like our buyers solicitors who I know are online and cheap option. Margins are very low so they need 100s of cases per person and it creates delays on every matter unfortunately.

Thanks for replying Ruby!

She's not cheap, more expensive than most quotes we obtained. My DH's work colleague recommended her...

We are stressed out while shelling out ££££!

I've never dismissed a solicitor so I don't know the process but I'd be wanting to use another!

If you do want to change, first secure another local solicitor and then ask to pay yours up to date (which shouldn't be much, given she's done naff all) and update the EA so a new memo can be updated.

You really need to rely on your solicitor, not only for speed but accuracy and knowledge, if trust isn't there then definitely change.

You should have the searches sent, title deeds, property information forms, fixtures and fittings forms and be sorting enquiries by now.

As PP said, don’t take the estate agent’s word for it that your solicitor has the contract documents.
If you’re not happy, dis-instruct her now. It can be a long, stressful process at its worst so you need someone you can trust.

Thank you Minnie! (and I chuckled at your username - brilliant)

If I understood this correctly, my solicitor can't start the searches until draft contract has been sent / she finishes reviewing said contract? And the EA might be lying about the timings / papers might not be sent yet?

Thanks for the info - really helpful! The last time we bought was long ago so can barely remember anything

We sold DM's house last year and bought a new place. My DM was persuaded (in my absence) to use two different solicitors - one for the sale and another for the purchase.

As you can imagine, that was a TERRIBLE idea.

But it did give us a wonderful contrast. One solicitor was absolutely amazing - returned calls the same day, acted on information swiftly, was communicative and engaged. The other one....I don't even think I can describe how bad they were. Never returned calls, disinterested, changed the named solicitor halfway through the process without telling us. Really, we should have submitted a complaint because we lost the mortgage due to their actions (long story....very long story!)

We now need to sell our house - we're going to use the first solicitor. They're not the cheapest but they were so good I wouldn't want to risk going elsewhere and getting another shitty service. It really did add a whole world of stress.

Funnily enough, our seller also changed their solicitor halfway through due to slow/shoddy service. I would say if your gut instinct is telling you that communication is poor, then get rid of them now. Even if the EA is being economical with the truth the communication from your solicitor should still be top notch.

You need to call the solicitor for an update and explanation on Monday. Anyone worth their salt will talk you through where they are in the process and will tell you if they need anything from you.

My tip is to keep chasing. My experience has been that solicitors are reactive not proactive. They only do anything when prompted.

I did say this to DH when he was selling PIL house last year. He phoned up after a month to find that nothing had been progressed because 'nobody chased me'! He now calls every week at least for an update.

Our solicitor seemed to use the excuse 'it's not quite right' to draw things out...

I.e. we'd send in paperwork we thought was filled out properly and we'd wait weeks... then we'd chase and she'd say "oh, you forgot x, y, z..." rather than messaging us upon receipt that an 'i' wasn't dotted.

Chase, chase and chase again...

Three to four months is fairly average for conveyancing, you sound very stressed at such an early stage. Do keep chasing but it's not reasonable to expect it to be done yet, especially with most solicitors closing for a week or two over Christmas.

It depends. The firm I work for will often submit searches as soon as the other side confirms they are instructed. But they should be sent as soon as the contract papers are in if not.
The industry average is currently 16 weeks to exchange but it’s quiet at the moment…