Ghosted by Solicitors!!! Pissed off!!!

[Stressedandpissedoff]

In the process of selling my late parents home after my Father died early this year. We (my brother and I) sold the house quickly to FTB who had a mortgage offer in principal already sorted.

Sale has been bobbing along nicely with no issues. Few enquires from the searches which we answered fully. Survey done, no issues, all paperwork and contracts signed on both sides, so we are all set and ready to go.

Our solicitor messaged theirs to ask if we are done with enquiries and to request a completion date. That was 3 weeks ago!! Despite our solicitor messaging them every couple of days to ask again for this information, they still have not responded.

I have asked our Estate Agent to call our buyers, and call the solicitors herself to see if she can get some news and have heard nothing. No updates, not a thing.

My brother and I are desperate to put this sale behind us as we have had a horrible year losing our Dad and selling the home we grew up in but this is hanging over our heads and its hard to move on and get closure while we still have the house.

What do I do now? Do I just keep messaging, emailing and calling for news? It feels like nothing is happening and I am confused as to why their Solicitor is not answering. Is there anything else we can try?

If you are getting radio silence, it's probably because your buyers have instructed their solicitor not to respond to enquiries whilst they think things over.

Prepare yourself for the possibility of them saying they don't want to exchange until after the Autumn budget - which has inconveniently just been announced for Winter, 26th November.

A lot of people are very nervous about what's going to come out of this budget. It's possible they're expecting a stamp duty break which will make their purchase cheaper.

This is patronising AF but I don't know how else to say it to be less so: the market is very difficult at the moment, you have to try to employ a slightly less stressed attitude towards the sale if you don't want your blood pressure regularly spiking.

It's hard enough selling a probate as it is. Selling one when refurb costs have probably doubled in 5 years with so much financial uncertainty in the air, doubly so.

The only thing that's within your capability is to change how you react to the hiccups the market is throwing at sellers atm.

Is it an on line solicitor? We were in the middle of a transfer of ownership from DH to joint names. In October last year the very good local solicitor was bought out by an on line company. Still waiting for action. Complaints to senior partner gets a small amount of action , then nothing. Off to the Ombudsman.

UPDATE: our estate agent called me this morning. She has managed to get through to the buyers solicitors and obtained an update. The solicitor dealing with the case has left the company!! Quite abruptly it would seem, a couple of weeks ago. All her cases have been split between another couple of solicitor who, already swamped with their own casework, now have her files to sort and work on too. The solicitor apologised profusely and said she is just a little overwhelmed and just trying to get caught up, and get her head round, the cases she has now been left with.

She had a quick look while the EA was on the phone with her and she said all seems okay and it looks like we are ready for exchange but she needs to give it a full proper review and then we can discuss dates. She was honest in saying she will do her best to review the file by the end of the week but can't promise anything but it will be early next week if not.

Our EA also called our buyers who still love and want the house and are keen to move forwards also. She gave them the same update she has given me.

So, I think, panic over, and we might actually get some answers late this week or next.

I was suggesting it as last resort, you just need them to know where you're at - the seller appears to be on the verge of relisting. You say not helping, how much effort can it take to get a answer? All these people are involved in the process but not at all emotionally involved in the outcome. What do they care if it is causing problems, they just move on to the next piece of paperwork?
So it would be a risk, we're all different it's up to the seller. But I would want to be 'in charge' of the sale.

Anyway, you've had a response now so best to let them catch up and review the file.

I'm not sure what you mean by being 'in charge of the sale'.

Sounds like they are super busy and having clients, non clients, your solicitor, EAs all chasing for updates is not going to help them get on top of the work, so a patience now needed.

Once you have completed, the stress and delay will be forgotten.

@Stressedandpissedoff glad for you

why couldnt they just tell you she left! Ridic.

I mean tgey should have told you at the time

Yes, they've had a response, just a shame the solicitors couldn't contact their clients sooner. I wasn't posting to get a response but to offer another viewpoint.
If you don't understand being 'in charge of the sale' then no worries, it's just my pov.

I know. My EA said this to me also this morning. All the stress and pressure could have been completely avoided if they had just communicated that the original case worker had left the company. Again, its a communication issue. If we had known this from the beginning, when she first left, then we would at least of been informed and not chased for updates every few days and would have left them to try and get on top of everything.

It has been really annoying but hopefully we can get somewhere now. if not this week, then next week.

Phew! A reason - makes it easier to understand. I bet a few school holidays in there too

I thought I had responded to the OP so sorry for that.

Clients (sellers and buyers) and EAs are not in charge of the sale by the way, however much you may want to be. EAs are largely redundant once a sale has been agreed and the transaction has been passed to solicitors.

A lot of conveyancing involves waiting for paperwork and responses from third parties. This is the responsibility of your legal representative and is wholly dependent on lots of different parties' input.

You should understand that you are not 'in charge' of any of the other third parties and therefore have little influence on when they respond or provide necessary documentation.

Retired conveyancer here.

Whilst your understanding of the process is no doubt correct, you are wrong about 'being in charge' - the bottom line is it's the sellers property and so their 'charge' to do with as they wish. That's my pov, of course.

I'm very pleased for the OP that their stressful situation has been resolved, and it must be very pleasing to have received the communication that their buyers are as keen as ever.

Great news

EAs are not in charge of the sale by the way

They may not be in charge of the process, but they can facilitate it buy constantly checking the progess, making sure all parties are happy and identifying hold ups and making people aware what is causing them and who needs to do what to move the process along.

It's often the EA who will be the communications link helping to ensure the process is hurried along as fast as possible.

Yes, of course, EAs can be incredibly helpful in smoothing the way when things are getting stressful and sellers/buyers are threatening all sorts to try and solve situations.

But unless it's something basic that a seller/buyer needs to do and they haven't done it, they have no influence in hurrying things along.

There is a place for EAs certainly in keeping the chain intact and calming people down, but you do have to bear in mind that not all solicitors react well to being chased by an EA, the vast majority of whom have no idea or understanding of the process.

If the solicitor does pass on the relevant information, there is no guarantee that the EA will understand it, or will try to interpret their understanding of the matter, that then gets passed on and is not accurate of the situation.

A client can rely on what their solicitor tells them. They cannot rely on information provided by an EA.

When DS bought his house he went with the lowest quote for conveyancing. It was a firm in Newcastle but all was done remotely.
They didn't have solicitors handling the work, just some clerks. One after another left without telling him. The whole thing was a shambles and I discovered afterwards that mistakes were made. DS was a naive FTB and just assumed the professionals knew what they were doing.
I ended up making formal complaints on his behalf which took nearly two years to resolve.
Maybe your buyers have used that kind of firm.

DS2 is now buying and I advised him to find a local firm recommended by people he knows. The contrast has been staggering.

@Novs the solicitors the buyers have used have actually a pretty good reputation. They have been around for years and have always been considered a good reliable family firm. However, the communication, or should I say, none communication surrounding this solicitor leaving has been pretty shit. We should have known sooner what was going on, and so should our buyers. I think its just overloaded workloads leading to not enough time to do everything unfortunately. But its shit that its their clients and their house sales/purchases that are being affected.

EAs get a lot of bad press.

In this particular situation it was the EA who got the lowdown on the situation on what was happening when prompted, and the action of the EA that will probably ensure that the matter gets due attention.

I think they (in general) deserve credit where credit is due.

if solicitors don't react well by being chased by EAs, well IMO they should do their job then. And then EAs won't have to hassle them.

Our EA has been brilliant to be fair to them. They have been quick (for the most part) efficient, and have kept this sale moving, chasing the solicitors and talking with the buyers and keeping everyone informed. Credit where credit is due, I cannot fault ours. If this sale goes through (or should I say when) then they will have more than earned their commission IMO.

I see that you've got an explanation and a way forward now, so fingers crossed. We had a similar situation when selling eight years ago: everything appeared ready to go and then absolutely nothing happened for days. My wife was at 35 weeks by this point and we needed the clarity!

In the end, I issued an ultimatum via the EA at 9am on the Monday morning - exchange by 5pm that day or I would withdraw from the sale entirely. Not put it back on the market, but give up moving altogether. It worked.

@InveterateWineDrinker sometimes an ultimatum is the only thing that will work. We will be prepared to do that if we need to. But I am hoping that we will get somewhere next week and can start wrapping this sale up and get it over the line very soon. If not I will be turning the screws 😂