Solicitors!!!

[pjl83]

Are there any out there that aren't completely useless!

3 months now and still they argue over a Fensa certificate for new windows that were fitted years ago. There's 12 grand sat in my account that I would love the seller's solicitor to have. There's 1500 quid sat in my account that I would love our solicitor to have............ but still they argue over pointless things.

I've even offered to take out indemnity insurance against anything to avoid waiting and waiting but that still hasn't happened.

They tell me today that the certificate has been found and has been sent so fingers crossed we should exchange monies next week and complete very soon but I am now at the point where I just don't believe them. I have the whole house to renovate once I get the keys so I'm pretty excited to get stuck in as soon as possible.

It's as if they don't want my money!

[wine~o]

But the more "Work" they seem to be doing means the more they can charge for "Disbursements"...30 second phone call ??

That'll be £10 plus vat....

[big-all]

yep fairly useless
normal chain around 6- 8 weeks

in our case new family first time buyers vacant possession no complications 11- 12 weeks
and they had the nerve to tell me half way through they had been awarded solicitors off distinction
not for conveyancing i am sure

[pjl83]

Crazy.

We're renting now and the new house is completely empty. Luckily we're on a fixed rate so no extra charges which is a slight benefit I suppose.

Really frustrating!

[joinerjohn]

My dad was moving house last August (Bank holiday weekend) On the Friday morning the removals men took all of his furniture away and waited outside the house he was moving into. The couple moving into his house, had their removal men sat outside my dads, and the other couple, moving into their house had their removal men sat outside that house. At 4:30pm , dad's solicitor phoned up and told him the solicitors acting for the buyer of his house, had successfully transferred the money,,,,,,,, into the wrong bank account. Therefore no one could move until it had been sorted out on the following Tuesday...
Yep solicitors generally are a useless bunch of nincompoops.

I got divorced this year (about a month ago is when I got the decree absolute)
Solicitors wanted £600 to do the paperwork. Plus I had to pay £340 into court to start the proceedings and then £45 for the decree absolute. I decided to go the DIY route and was surprised how simple the paperwork was. Saved myself £600....

Yep solicitors are expensive nincompoops.

[pjl83]

That sounds ridiculous. I'm glad there's no chain the way this one has dragged on!

[joinerjohn]

It was , PJ. When my dad was ready to move, he was told that everything would go through on that Friday. Apparently the other solicitors secretary was typing the bank account numbers in and got one number wrong, which just happened to be a valid account. So some unknown person had over £100,000, extra, in their bank account over the Bank Holiday weekend. It was sorted out on the Tuesday morning (as soon as the banks had opened ) still cost him double for the removal men though. (finally claimed successfully off the solicitors responsible for the monumental c**k up )

[big-all]

i think its a poor show that only the number is used in identification
if you have say both the name and the number anywhere in the " heading " then you wont get any mistakes as in both number and name must match but other details can be inaccurate
as in "123456 all" is the main detail so if i put in mr big all 12345 or all f big 12345

in other words 2 parts must match as a cross reference will stop these mistakes

also meant to say one or 2 mistake within the two bits should be allowed as this will be several millions to one chance off any account being close to the same
in other words there would only be one account the information could apply to with only two bits off information
but off course you have other information like sort code and area off account along with actual institution would mean 2 bits off information with say 4 mistakes should easilly find the correct account

[joinerjohn]

Quite agree BA, I think it's a fair chance that with my bank account, No 12345678, there will be a customer in the same branch with account No 12345679. Though the chances of them having the same name as me would be minimal. Thing is with electronic transfers, the banks rely on the sort code and account numbers alone and as we know, people make mistakes, not machines. I find it hard to believe in this day and age, that a banking system relies only on numbers and not names and addresses as well.
Same if you get a bill that's obviously wrong,,, you phone the company up and they eventually tell you "The computer made a mistake." FFS computers are tools and do exactly what they are programmed to do. They don't make mistakes. Humans make mistakes.

[big-all]

yep the mischievous computer sniggered and transposed a few numbers

[pjl83]

As predicted. Still no exchange date and still no conversation between the 2 solicitors regarding the required information. As it stands, if I'm not in the new house by the 7th then I'm homeless! Kipping in a spare room or a sofa at a relatives place is an easy solution but what about the lorry full of furniture!

[pjl83]

we've got the keys!

Stand-by for lots and lots of questions and dodgy photographs of my DIY shenanigans

[DavidBlaine]

It is yet another example of Solicitors that either don't know what they are doing or just don't care. It's a very hard task indeed to find a good solicitor these days. Next time go with somebody that comes recommended. Any time I have had to deal with a solicitor it's been from a recommendation from a friend so I've been fairly lucky so far.

David

[54aardvark]

Got stuffed a few years ago buying my last house, first wife was away in Canada for a month so we set up a Power of Attorney so I could get all the paperwork sorted while she was away. Everything sorted and it wasn't until a few years later when first wife decided I was "surplus to requirements" I found that the Solicitor had cocked up big time and had used the Power of Attorney to put the house in solely her name rather than joint ownership. Solicitor had retired so little or no comeback there so I had to do a certain amount of sucking up to get a few grand out of the situation. Particularly hacked off though as all the properties we had ever owned where funded by my earnings alone. Could have taken legal action but why drag it out for years with the theiving b*stards draining off any likely benefits.