Is it normal for solicitor?

[Nortam]

We are FTB and a bit clueless. We've had so many delays and problems and I feel like I've constantly been calling people and getting nowhere.

Anyway, I'm just wondering how much your solicitors tell you? Are they supposed to tell you what enquiries they've raised? And what the answers are? Ours haven't. Well sort from one which we needed to make a decision about. Is this normal?

I also feel like they've just expected us to know things. Eg they said we needed to provide id. I sent in our passports but they then came back and said no we need two forms of ID and proof of address. Why not just say that in the first place? For proof of deposit, one person said 3 months of bank statements but another said 6.

Is it also normal to only speak to the secretary? Also to have everything through the post? I don't just mean documents, but if I email a question, they will respond to it by posting me a letter.

Am I just expecting too much?

Are they supposed to tell you what enquiries they've raised? And what the answers are?*
*
Yes, but not necessarily as they go. I'd expect them to make you aware of any concerning answers as they come up - otherwise you should get sent all the enquiries and answers once they're satisfied.

Acceptable forms of ID - you're right that they should have been clear about what they needed upfront.

Only speaking to the secretary - depends what you mean by this. There's often a senior person and a junior one and it's not uncommon to deal more with the junior one. But the junior is usually a conveyancer/solicitor themselves, not just a secretary.

Responding to emails by post - nope, that's weird!

Hi @Nortam
I felt like i was always contacting my solicitors and chasing them. I filled in a whole load of forms, heard nothing back then i got told i hadn't sent them the money to start processing everything, wasted so much time. Contact was always via email, nothing in the post. Hope everything gets sorted quickly for you, congrats on the property buy x

It’s normal for solicitors not to communicate much, and that you deal with more junior staff a lot if the time. That’s ok, it keeps costs down.

The only thing you said that sounds unusual is the bit about how you sent them an email and they replied by letter. But maybe there was a good legal reason for it on that occasion, I don’t know.

We’ve just had all the enquiries our solicitor raised and all the answers sent to us ( all done by email btw) plus the new enquiries our solicitor has asked ( which are very picky in our opinion!) We were also given a list of exactly which 2 types of ID we needed to provide. Ours sends us everything.

Ours were rubbish. We complained to the client care manager and a partner then took over which was better but to be honest, still not great. If they aren't explaining anything, ask them to set everything out clearly. If they still don't, then complain and ask your file to be moved to a different conveyancer.

I stopped working in the law years ago, but even then, t was standard ( in fact required) practice for solicitors to send out long letter confirming terms of instruction which would normally contain details required for ID amongst other things. The requirements are not those of the individual solicitor but of the lender and the Law Society. However, although every client has to sign that letter and return it to the solicitors before they will start doing doing anything, my experience was that it was a really long and dull letter, and no one ever read it properly.
As far as the replies to enquiries are concerned, quite often solicitors wait till they've got all the info in and then do a report to the client once they've reviewed everything. This can be problematic, because it can mean that the first the client knows of anything which is not as they were expecting it to be, is when everyone is in a hurry to exchange and putting n the pressure not to ask questions and delay things further.
Am surprised to hear that snail mail is still being used for letters, though.

The only things we've had via snail mail are those which require a signature. Otherwise, we get emails. They send their bank details by post as well.

I've not really had to chase much. I know it's the vendor holding things up, not us.

They sound a bit rubbish tbh, OP. Sending hard copy by snail mail is fine if it's a document that needs signing but even then it should be a follow-up after having sent the same thing by email already. Queries and questions should definitely be done by email, and by phone if there's an urgent issue. I would expect a copy by email of any queries raised, together with answers as they're resolved. How else are you know if they've raised all the questions that you wanted answers to? Basics like how many forms of ID etc should be in a FAQ on their website imo.

Completely usual to deal with an assistant in the first instance though. "Secretary" is probably an unhelpful way to think of them. They don't just type the letters and make the tea but are a key person with day-to-day familiarity with each of a number of open files at any given time, and a quick way of getting answers to any concerns without adding to your solicitor's billable hours. Unless they're crap ofc. If both your solicitor and their assistant are crap and your purchase isn't progressing or you've barely begun anyway, it wouldn't be a crime to start again with someone better. You are paying them, after all.

I'm inclined to think that if you've chosen your solicitor on a cheaper, fixed fee and volume conveyancing, that you are expected to know the procedure to an extent and don't need to be hand held. They tend to send letters explaining what you need to do. But you need to read them.

If you are paying top notch for a knowledgeable, experienced solicitor (not a paralegal for example), who doesn't have 100s of clients, then you should have your hand held because part of that is what you are paying them for.

Just to say I didn't call them a secretary because I think less of them! They actually are the secretaries. There is the solicitor and her two secretaries (their job titles are at the bottom of the letters)

Also, we are paying a set fee of £1400 ish. I asked for recommendations on our area Facebook page.

Thank you for all you replies. It seems mixed really. Replying to everything by post is really frustrating as I'll email them back and then they'll reply by post again even if it's literally just a sentence or two.

I asked on Friday if the enquiries were finished and they just said yes. I have no idea what they enquired about or what the answers are.

Also, I read all the terms of instruction and other information they originally sent out about 3/4 times. And have re read several times since.

@Nortam You'll get a copy of the enquiries and the responses when the solicitor sends you their Report on Title. This is usually sent to you towards the end of the process and fixed fee solicitors tend to do things in a set order and don't like doing things piecemeal.

Also, if you want to get more meaningful responses, do not contact them on a Friday! It's the day when most completions take place and they are super busy, so don't welcome general enquiries about a transaction that isn't really urgent that day.

Oh I see. I had no idea about Fridays being a busy day. To be fair I think it's the only time I've called on a Friday. I normally like to call on a Wednesday.

That's good to know about the report on title. I'd never heard of that before. Hopefully receive that soon then.