Solicitor Taking Too Long With House Purchase

There can be consequences of your solicitor taking too long with your house purchase, which includes your seller pulling out of the sale.

Sellers may feel you are using delaying tactics, when in fact it’s your solicitor who is slowing everything up. It’s important that your house purchase moves along swiftly, which is why it’s important to understand if your solicitor is taking too long with your house purchase.

To avoid your solicitor taking too long with your house purchase make sure you choose a good and efficient solicitor in the first place. But also you need to keep the pressure on with any solicitor by chasing them regularly so your file stays at the top of the pile.

How do you deal with slow solicitors?

If your solicitor is being slow you should call a meeting with them to find out why they are being slow. You need to stress to them that their delays are causing you concern and may cost you the purchase of the house. Sellers will get fed up if a sale is not progressing fast enough, which is often completely overlooked by many solicitors.

You need to be putting reasonable pressure on your solicitor, especially if they are being very slow.

How long do solicitors take when buying a house

The average time a solicitor will take when buying a house is 6-8 weeks, but this time can be shorter if you get a very good solicitor and if the searches come through quickly. But on the other hand, if you have a very inefficient solicitor this timeframe could be much longer.

But often buyers forget that they can be accountable too for it taking a long time to buy a house, which is by them not replying to their solicitor in good time with answers to questions.

In addition, it may be that the sellers solicitor is taking a long time to reply to questions too, which may then not be the fault of your solicitor. Solicitors love to blame each other for delays, but if your solicitor is saying it’s down to the seller’s solicitor, speak with the seller’s estate agent and ask them to speak with the seller’s solicitors.

Can you sue a solicitor for taking too long?

You can sue your solicitor if you can prove that their slow speed or negligence has caused you to suffer loss as a result, which might include your losses incurred on survey costs, valuation fees and so on.

All solicitors have a professional duty of care to you to ensure that minimum standards are kept to, and if time limits are not adhere to, they may be liable. Delays due to your solicitor would be classified as inadequate service and could be classed as professional negligence.

What are the consequences of solicitor taking too long with house purchase

The most serious consequence of your solicitor taking too long with your house purchase is you lose the house. The sellers may get fed up with you, and with how slow the buying process is going and remarket the property.

This nearly happened to me last year when I was buying an investment property and the process took way too long. This was due to a slow solicitor and down to the lender taking ages to deal with things. It became very stressful and it was only because I kept tabs on the buying process on a nearly daily basis that the purchase happened.

This also involved speaking with and reassuring the sellers estate agent that I was keen to buy and the delays were genuine and not delay tactics. But I was given a couple of ultimatums by the seller, and I managed to persuade the estate agent to extend these deadlines they had put in place.

Final thought about solicitor taking too long with house purchase

Whilst it is recommended to find a good efficient solicitor to help with your purchase, you don’t always have a great deal of choice in the matter. Often times the mortgage company will only allow buyers to use solicitors on their recommended panel of solicitors. This means you are stuck with a select few solicitors you can use for the purchase.

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