Solicitors...please help!

[Gamergirl86]

On the eve of exchange our vendors solicitor has sadly passed away. They were the owner and sole signatory so I gather (from our solicitor) it isn't going to be easy to get a sign off.

Does anyone know how long it will take to get to completion from here?

(Sorry if this sounds heartless but our mortgage offer runs out in three weeks, we already sold and so our now effectively homeless as staying with relatives. Any new mortgage offer would therefore be less and we would no longer be able to afford the property. This purchase been delayed many times thus our offer to sell without a completion date on our onward purchase. A decision although done for the best of intentions has now majorly backfired. )

Many thanks MN.

The SRA should step in here and take over. Might be worth your solicitor advising you properly and contacting the SRA for an intervention.

Were they actually a solicitor or just a conveyancer. Were they a sole practitioner?

The SRA requires sole practitioners to have what is effectively someone holding power of attorney. That person has to be a qualified solicitor and they have to commit to being able to step in at short notice to pick up and run things. If your vendor's solicitor was actually a "solicitor" and not say a licensed conveyancer then this arrangement should kick in.

Did they have any colleagues in the office? We're they a "one man band" there is protections in place by the regulators (sra) to protect the case load.

I'm sure the work will be picked up but from my experience if it's a family practice that may cause a delay as they deal with their bereavement

How sad

Yes in our situation the fallback is a close family friend (not allowed to be a family member) but even so they would still be struggling with the shock of a sudden death.