Is it time to send a strongly worded email to solicitors?

[chocolateorstrawberry]

My brother has ASD and LD so I am acting on his behalf.

My brother sold his house this summer and bought a flat. The sale has gone through but the purchase has not. The original date was meant to be December 16th, so over a month ago.

I keep asking for updates and get none. If I get through to the solicitor she just tells me she’s asked for various things from the sellers solicitor but hasn’t received the right things. Mostly when I ring I can’t get through at all and she ignores voicemail.

I am getting really fed up. The situation is completely unfair on my brother, his things are in storage, he’s living with me. And of course that’s unfair on me.

So - my question is, what can I do? The solicitor just keeps insisting that the sellers solicitor hasn’t given her what she needs and of course I appreciate she needs them for the sale to go through but surely a timeline of sorts is reasonable?

Tell them you are pulling out of the sale unless they can sort it out in three weeks. Then pull out and look for something else. (It was the only way I could get my first purchase moving: I said I would pull out if I wasn't in by Christmas.) It's not your brother's solicitor who needs to move things along. Get in touch with the estate agent and tell them you are pulling out.

If you can be specific about how far you've got and what's now missing people can give you better advice. You can also take your concerns to the estate agent. How long has the process been so far? There are a few options you can go for if you are prepared to walk away. There are more enquiries on flats as they need to cover how the shared areas are managed

But then we’d just have to pay solicitors fees and he’s on a tight budget as it is. It may not be my solicitor who needs to move things along but the lack of communication is a worry and if she is poor at communicating with me it does make me wonder if the sellers solicitor have had similar problems.

@Pieandchips999 it is relating to a shared area: apparently she is only waiting for one more piece of info. This was two weeks ago. So I rang on Thursday begging for an update as storage is expensive and no one’s even called me back. I am getting really frustrated which is unusual for me.

Can you push via the estate agents?. they may be able to get a better update from the vendors for you.

I would ask the estate agent where things are up to as a starting point now and express concern it looks as though it might fall through. That'll buck them up the get updates.

When you signed up with the solicitors what did the Ts and Cs state about response times? If you're unhappy initiate their complaints procedure. They put someone else on the file instead.

Why didn’t you tie the sale and purchase? Leasehold properties always take longer to go through as there is more paperwork involved. Get the agents to do some chasing.

You need to understand what is outstanding and what you can do to help push it along. If it is the seller who hasn’t provided info, or their management agent or freeholder the agent can assist.

If it's become protracted there's a good chance she's not updating you much because (a) there's not much if anything to update you on and (b) because updating you costs you money, the longer it drags on with nothing she can constructively do about the more and more updates she will have done and that costs time and money.

It's entirely possible she is waiting on things from early to mid December, as annoyingly some are very slow to get going again since Christmas.

You need to be chasing the agent and getting them on the case, that doesn't cost you or your brother money and get them to chase everyone for you and be a total pain in the ear of the agent, if it's true that sellers side is stalling then it's them to sort it.

@chocolateorstrawberry if it's one thing left to go that's reassuring. However I'm not sure why you're phoning. Put in an email to say you are confirming the only outstanding enquiry needed is to confirm xyz about the shared area. Then you will be in a position to sign contracts then exchange. Express your concern about how long it's been without a response. Then also talk to the agent and say you are getting concerned this one enquiry is taking so long and is there a problem. Is your brother buying outright or is there some form of finance involved?

@pilates - because the buyer was threatening to pull out! I naively thought since the solicitor was only waiting for the one thing he’d be in the first week of January but no - we are still waiting …

I’ve just phoned to ask for any sort of updates and to be honest to try to remind them to chase things because it does just feel as if it’s being left and that in six months time we’ll still be in the same position!

So this is when it's helpful to have your vendors contact details. Personally I would hound the EA or even call vendors solicitors.

Seems your in that period of go slow before it all goes manic !!

Keep us updated op x

The agent needs to pull their weight here. Its there job to chase and keep the chain together. Solicitors are there for legal work.

Definitely contact the estate agent because they are able to chase the seller's solicitor.

Do you know what it is the solicitor is waiting for ? Ring the agent and tell them you have spoken with your solicitor and what she is waiting for, ask them to ring vendors and their solicitors to find out what the delay is, also do they have an estimated time of when the final enquiry will be responded to. I'd also ask the agent to continue to chase final enquiry and keep you updated so you can chase receipt of the enquiry. Also depending on what the outstanding enquiry is you could ask your solicitor to send out contracts for signing now in readiness so it doesn't cause further delays.

Ask for a meeting with the senior partners and tell them that you don't appreciate the lack of communication and that you want them to ensure that they sort this out urgently.

I have done this twice and it's amazing how much better my treatment became.

I would also speak to the estate agent and arrange some new viewings through them so they warn their clients. You might even find a better property.

Visit in person.

I have to say things only shifted on one end if my transaction when I met my buyers face to face (my neighbours were buying though). My sellers were magnificent(ly annoying) and made chasing phone calls most days.

I'd agree with getting the estate agent to chase. It's in their interests.

Speak to the seller directly and task them tk get their solicitor to respond. A buyers solicitor would be negligent to just exchange contracts if they haven't received adequate responses to their enquiries so they are actually acting in your brother's best interests even if it doesn't seem like it. Has he paid a fixed fee whereby the deal is they report back when there is something to report back If paying on a tine basis maybe the solicitor thinks she is doing him a favour by not charging him to write a letter saying no change.

Estate agents do very little for their fees on such matters so this might be an occasion whereby if you threaten to pull out and they fear losing their commission they will get on to the seller and the seller's solicitors to force them into action.