is possibly the most streesful thing for a family to go through
we had our offer accepted on a house in march and accepted an offer on our house around the same time
the people buying ours went with countrywide conveyancing services

now every search and all paperwork was supposed to be completed last month
but there solicitor has made every excuse possible
oh the paperwork hasnt arived
so it was sent over again
2 weeks later we haven't got a survey done (after 2 survey's and 4 lost of dissappearing paperwork)


now today we recieved a call today saying the people buying our place are pulling out
because their solicitor hasnt got any info on the survey

these
are the people who haven't got a clue what they are doing
so is there anywhere a complaint can be put in
obviously not directly to them as they would loose the email/letter and forget the phonecall had ever happened
sorry for rambling on im just a little bit annoyed

legal ombudsman?

The 2 times I've bought/sold I've had poor experiences with the conveyancers. Both times I resorted to turning up on spec to ensure things were moving along.

If the call saying your buyers were pulling out did not come directly from them, get in direct contact and explain the problems.
Try to save the sale by suggesting each using a different solicitor, but from the same practise to speed up communication.

i would be kicking off with

having a pop at parent company

details here

http://www.countrywide.co.uk/contact/

regards

Agriv8

Cheap conveyancing is a false economy but people go for it all the time. We bought / sold recently and went with the cheapest solicitors in the world. They were rubbish. We had to chase them up 2-3 times about every little bit of the whole process...... Next time I'll know.....

my advise is to always use a company close enough to your house or work so you can go in.

i know this dont help here. but i had so many issues with solicitors till i went with one near work and if i had issues i popped in and chased everything through.

6 house sales in 7 years and only 1 went wrong (the first)

good luck sorting stuff out.

sorry this dont help but its my 2 penneth worth.


dave j

thanks for the advice folks appreciate it

also to add
the people buying this place are from just down the road and bairstow eves sorted everything for them
we have suggested they use the same people we have as all our paperwork was completed in about 2 weeks other than waiting for a few replies from different places
and our solicitor has been chasing theirs again and has shown us a log of everything thats been sent plus the date it was posted
realy our solicitor couldn't have been better

ill see what happens and keep this thread updated
thanks again
martin

Good luck - i hope you can recover the sale.

Bairstows should have been keeping on top of this for you - I would have a strong suspicion that the buyers may have been dragging their feet - may have put bids in on 2 or more properties! But if you knoe them & can talk to them it should be easily sorted if they are genuine - they would have to use a different solicitor at your solicitors firm, but always much quicker if all done "in house" as it were.
Best of luck!

Not a lot you can do, I'd be on the phone to the agents to get them to speak to the buyers and make sure the buyers understand fully where the problem lies.

Any real solicitor should be able to manage a conveyance with minimal fuss and provide good service. I'm pleased to hear that you're happy with your solicitor.

Its also well worth telling people how bad your experience has been on the other end from CPL. They are terrible but a lot of people are pressured into using them by estate agents which are affiliated to Countrywide.

I've dealt with CPL a lot and they're a real pain (notwithstanding that there are some knowledgeable and dedicated staff there, sadly you have to start complaining before you can get hold of any of these). fortunately all the estate agents in my area know full well that CPL are a shower and are pretty useful in chasing them to ensure we get what we need.

If I was acting for you I would have complained a lot sooner, its the only way to get a solicitor to deal with the case rather than a monkey in front of the screen.

When you're looking for solicitors don't just consider the price, consider who will be doing the work, is it delegated to unqualified staff, are there reams of 'assistants' and 'secretaries' dealing with cases? Then again, you don't want to pay over the odds and it is easy to find solicitors which might be very good but also charge more than they might really need to.

Best advice is obviously to go on personal recommendations.

Ah, forgot to mention that Bairstow are one of these agents that is either owned by CPL or tied in some how so maybe they are not going to be much help telling the buyer that CPL are useless. You need to build some form of relationship with the buyers to make sure you can contact each other outside of the solicitors and agents.

Also the idea of using the same solicitors isn't generally possible because of the conflict of interest. Some firms will do this if you use a solicitor in different offices or if you are both longstanding clients. Ultimately though this shouldn't be necessary and would generally not be encouraged.

[Edited on 24/6/10 by ravingfool]

that people on this site are giving money away to conveyancers.

DIY'ers to a one and you're throwing a fortune!

Buy this book:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Conveyancing-Fraud-Michael-Joseph/dp/0950502340

Written by an ex-conveyancing solicitor it tells you how to do it all yourself. Safely, cheaply and more importantly... competently!

My Dad's bought or sold 7 or 8 properties with the help of this book. We then did the conveyancing together on my place.

I did the searches myself too by doing research, talking to the council etc. etc.

Buy the book, save money!


Cheers,
James

quote:

---

Originally posted by James
that people on this site are giving money away to conveyancers.

DIY'ers to a one and you're throwing a fortune!

Buy this book:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Conveyancing-Fraud-Michael-Joseph/dp/0950502340

Written by an ex-conveyancing solicitor it tells you how to do it all yourself. Safely, cheaply and more importantly... competently!

My Dad's bought or sold 7 or 8 properties with the help of this book. We then did the conveyancing together on my place.

I did the searches myself too by doing research, talking to the council etc. etc.

Buy the book, save money!


Cheers,
James

---

a little update
their solicitor has been blaming us (our solicitor) for not have the info ready for them

so we sent off a detailed list of every call
every letter sent and recieved to the buyer of our house and their solicitor

our estate agent,solicitor and us recieved an opology late this afternoon
so looks like things are back under way again

i'd also like to thank all the people who have replied to this thread with information
appreciate it very much
thank you
martin


[Edited on 25/6/10 by eccsmk]