Changing solicitor during conveyancing process

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PollyP123

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Hi all,

How difficult is it to change solicitors half-way through purchasing a house? Partner and I are currently half through what we had hoped would be a speedy transaction, but feel that our solicitor is delaying the process unduly.

- It took him five weeks to review the contract and pack of documents provided by the vendor's solicitor and to revert with queries;
- Received a letter today from him requesting documents that we provided to him weeks ago; and
- He has ignored our every request for an update or details of expected timelines etc. and hides behind his secretary.

We signed a letter of engagement (and I accept that we will have incurred fees for his work to date), but I'm out of patience. Is changing solicitors as simple as instructing him to down tools, appointing someone else and then asking the bank/vendor solicitors to reissue documentation? Any other ramifications that I'd need to consider?

How have others dealt with slow moving solicitors?

Apologies for the long and ranting post!
 
My experience of dealing with conveyancing solicitors over many transactions indicate that it is generally a reasonably slow process if everything is not in order.As the purchasing solicitor he has to rely on getting timely and correct documentation from the vendors solicitor.As a client patience is necessary.
I would suggest sitting down with your solicitor and telling him how you feel and this may resolve things.


However if you have lost confidence in him just appoint a new solicitor and agree fee with original one.
 
Thanks for your response, Clonback.

In your experience, do solicitors typically wait until they have the loan pack to start reviewing the contract/documentation pack? We haven't been able to get through to the solicitor, but that's the explanation being offered by his secretary.

Had he reviewed the contracts when he received them some weeks ago, it's likely that we'd have responses to queries and be in a position to sign by now... Agreed - patience is a necessity! He's busy and we're just another item on his to-do list.

Given that we don't have any concerns in relation to his competency, would you wait it out or take action?
 
You need to make an appointment with your solicitor and outline your concerns in detail.
 
Having gone through this process recently I can sympathise.
It seemed to me that solicitors in our chain only dealt with the file when everything was there in front of them. Reactive rather than proactive. I also found that communications between solicitors can be minimal.
But I had confidence in my own solicitor & that is essential. You should also be able to speak to them & get a clear update on what is happening.
 
Thanks for your response, Butter, and agreed @Clonback - we need to actually get in front of him, and put him on notice that we're not happy with the level of responsiveness that he has demonstrated to date, and see where we go from there.

@hubble - 1,250 + usual outlays

I stated above that we don't have concerns re: his competency, but thinking about it further... We're relying upon him to guide us through this, and he's requesting documents that he already has - a lapse in his attention to detail? If he doesn't notice which documents are in front of him, how can we trust him to notice what's actually in the documents??
 
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