Solicitors disturbing everyone's plans

cormie

I've had a customer postpone a house move for the 3rd time today due to being messed around by her solicitor. The first date for the move was about 2 months ago and she's been promised and let down on dates 3 times since. This isn't the first time Solicitors not having things sorted out has lead to bookings I've had being postponed and I'm just curious, do they have any responsibility for such antics?

I don't require any booking deposits for such moves, but if I did and if the customer had lost this money each time, would they be in a position to be reimbursed for their loss from the solicitor or is it just tough luck?

MarkAnthony

I'm not sure what you are in this scenario? The vendor? Booking deposits aren't in any way binding.

Yes there are aberrant solicitors out there but more than one involved in a conveyance is very odd and something here does not add up. There's a problem on one side or another and you're not getting the full story.

EDIT: You're a mover? These sorts of things happen which is why you don;t book the mover to the last minute, or you book a good one like you that doesn;t take a deposit. Look I even do business advice

cormie

Yep, I'm the mover, leaving it until the last minute can be a bit touch and go to book a mover, I've had other customers who only have a few hours to vacate a property once the keys are handed over, usually the new owners are fine, but by that stage the house no longer belongs to the people who need to move out.

It all seems very messy, I'm not too sure of the intricate details of buying and selling houses, I just thought the way solicitors seem to be able to freely mess people around is a bit ridiculous.

MarkAnthony

cormie wrote: »

Yep, I'm the mover, leaving it until the last minute can be a bit touch and go to book a mover, I've had other customers who only have a few hours to vacate a property once the keys are handed over, usually the new owners are fine, but by that stage the house no longer belongs to the people who need to move out.

It all seems very messy, I'm not too sure of the intricate details of buying and selling houses, I just thought the way solicitors seem to be able to freely mess people around is a bit ridiculous.

I was in a transit at the side of the road (with the hazards on ofc ) with everything I own in the back, having a lovely conversation with my solicitor that a folio check had turned up a problem and we couldn't move in.

You're not in until you're in I'm afraid. In the meantime one of a million things can and frequently do go wrong and everyone always blames the solicitors and why not they're being paid well for shuffling some paper around. Most of the time it's got naff all to do with the solicitor other than it's them delivering the bad news.

If I had a moving service, I'd be on standby for short notice moves and charge accordingly.

EDIT: Why leave the searches to the last minute? Would you be happy if you moved in and it turned out 3 days ago it was decided a motorway was going through your house and the solicitor did the check 4 days ago? :pac:

slimjimmc

This is not a consumer issue. Moved to Accommodation & Property

Victor

cormie wrote: »

I've had a customer postpone a house move for the 3rd time today due to being messed around by her solicitor.

Property transactions aren't 'easy'. More than likely, the property buyer was presumptive that there would be no problems with the transaction and made a premature reservation. Note that there are a buyer, seller, two solicitors and other parties involved.

It my be useful to require a payment of X on / before the day they book. It need not be the full amount, but would need to compensate you somewhat for your time and effort.

cormie

I understand that there's many parties involved alright and a lot that can slow the process down, but if your main source of contact for these things (your solicitor) is promising you it's all going to be sorted by a certain date and allowing you to proceed with arrangements, it's definitely not ideal. If they have experience they should know not to promise anything if it's so open to disruption, but when they do, you can't help but feel they should be held accountable somewhat for any losses based on you arranging things around their promise.

I really only take booking deposits for international moves when booking ferries etc is required, or when I'm counting on multiple customers to make up the worth of a long distance international journey. If one were to pull out at last minute, I could be left with a big loss. The domestic and local moves are easy enough to reschedule and sometimes it even works out better

MarkAnthony

A solicitor won't be promising anything. The customer is using them as a scapegoat. Getting a straight answer out of a solicitor on a conveyance is harder than getting one out of a politician on expenses.

It's much easier to say to you 'The solicitor is messing me about' rather than 'We've our little hopes up again, planning to move on Wednesday, but haven't done the proper groundwork so delayed again'.

It's much more fun to blame the EA IMHO.