Buying my first home _ is this normal?

ashes79

I paid booking deposit on my first home last week of January. At the time my father was selling a property and suggested to his solicitor that they also cover my purchase. I went along with this. I, perhaps foolishly, expected to meet solicitor so that they could explain to me the process and what possible delays could occur etc. This did not happen. In fact, at this stage I still have never met my solicitor and the only communication between us has been letters, emails and 2 phone calls. At this stage I just want the whole thing over but I'd like opinions as to if that's the usual way to work? Even when I signed contracts solicitor was out of office and another member of practice stepped in to oversee.

awec

Standard enough.

miezekatze

Sounds normal enough. The only time we met the solicitor when we bought our house was when we signed contracts. Apart from that, everything was done via email. If you have questions, just email them or have a look online.

ashes79

Ok I guess my expectations were a bit high then? what prompted my thread was the fact that solicitor seems reluctant to answer my queries. I am an accountant & if I had treated a client such when I was in practice I would not have been kept long in the practice. I guess its just different strokes.

az2wp0sye65487

Some solicitors have a chip on their shoulder and will only go at their own pace, on their own terms. Some of the more 'old school' ones may even speak down to their clients. Perhaps this was the norm at one stage. It's not any more.

The good ones will take calls, answer emails etc. but some seem to still only deal with letters and traditional snail-mail.

At the end of the day you're the client and paying the bill so you should be able to ask questions and speak to them about any concerns you might have.

Having said that however; assuming it's a 'normal' sales process, what do you want to see them for?

ashes79

Well thats the nub of the issue inst it. What is a "normal" sales process? How, as a lay person, are you to know if something is normal or not? To me the fact that the sale is not closed yet after almost 5 months when there is no chain , the vendors want a quick sale etc is not normal. As I said I expected that the solicitor would explain the process & what is normal or not. How worried I need to be about various delays etc. I guess that is expecting too much. At least I am buying my forever home & not a starter home. You need to trust your solicitor a lot & to trust someone without getting a chance to meet them seems a bit strange to me . As they say trust is earned just like respect.

az2wp0sye65487

ashes79 wrote: »

Well thats the nub of the issue inst it. What is a "normal" sales process? How, as a lay person, are you to know if something is normal or not? To me the fact that the sale is not closed yet after almost 5 months when there is no chain , the vendors want a quick sale etc is not normal. As I said I expected that the solicitor would explain the process & what is normal or not. How worried I need to be about various delays etc. I guess that is expecting too much. At least I am buying my forever home & not a starter home. You need to trust your solicitor a lot & to trust someone without getting a chance to meet them seems a bit strange to me . As they say trust is earned just like respect.

Well in that case you should get in touch with your solicitor and ask what's going on.

ashes79

Yes I have contacted them, they seem reluctant to answer my questions. That is what lead to me starting this thread. To see if my expectations are too high.

Heres Johnny

ashes79 wrote: »

Yes I have contacted them, they seem reluctant to answer my questions. That is what lead to me starting this thread. To see if my expectations are too high.

Its bad service, pure and simple. I worked in life insurance and pensions dealing with the public for many years and life insurance, in particular, could take months to get over the line if there were medical and underwriting issues. But I spoke to clients regularly, tried to do it to put their mind at ease and before they felt the need to call me. I would threaten to pull the business from the solicitor and go elsewhere, thats a long time for a straight sale without answers. There may be legitimate reasons but you should be kept informed.

awec

ashes79 wrote: »

Well thats the nub of the issue inst it. What is a "normal" sales process? How, as a lay person, are you to know if something is normal or not? To me the fact that the sale is not closed yet after almost 5 months when there is no chain , the vendors want a quick sale etc is not normal. As I said I expected that the solicitor would explain the process & what is normal or not. How worried I need to be about various delays etc. I guess that is expecting too much. At least I am buying my forever home & not a starter home. You need to trust your solicitor a lot & to trust someone without getting a chance to meet them seems a bit strange to me . As they say trust is earned just like respect.

Your solicitor should be keeping you up to date on progress. If they're not this is just poor on their part. This doesn't require face to face meetings, in fact it's much more convenient for them and you to just do it all over the phone and email as much as possible.

Almost everyone picks their solicitor without having met them. The first time most people meet their solicitor is to go sign contracts. Ultimately you aren't choosing them based on how nice a person they are when you chat. You can change if you think he's slow.

And while the vendor may want a quick sale, that doesn't mean it'll be a quick sale. The vendor could have banks involved etc. Solicitors still communicate with each other via post, which means your solicitor has to write a letter and send it, then the other guy responds with a letter, and so on and so forth. It is easy to see how even relatively minor deviations from the norm can start causing delays.

ashes79

awec wrote: »

Your solicitor should be keeping you up to date on progress. If they're not this is just poor on their part. This doesn't require face to face meetings, in fact it's much more convenient for them and you to just do it all over the phone and email as much as possible.

Almost everyone picks their solicitor without having met them. The first time most people meet their solicitor is to go sign contracts. Ultimately you aren't choosing them based on how nice a person they are when you chat.

Ok then if its standard then I feel a bit better . I have signed contacts now so I know things should speed up at this stage. The frustration is getting the better of me I suppose .

Alanstrainor

I'd agree with others here. We never met our solicitor and most of our communication was done over the phone and email. Do you know where things stand now? Is there a close date set? If you're not sure I'd call up and ask them for a status of where they are and what needs to be done to close.

miezekatze

5 months seems very long indeed, especially if you still have no idea of the closing date. I'd be hassling that solicitor a bit more to get some answers! In our case we got the keys less than 2 months after going sale agreed, but we were probably very lucky.

ashes79

Hi yes close date is set for next Friday. Still some items to be finalised before then of course. To be honest I won't believe anything related to timing til I have the keys in my hand.