Solicitors

Don’t get me started!

We first viewed the land on 19 September 2020. We didn’t set out to move house/buy land or anything. It was one of those things that just ‘happened.’

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property/83436520

I made an offer a week later and had it accepted immediately. I took proof of funding to the estate agents and instructed a solicitor a week after that, taking it to 5 October. The prices for conveyancing ranged from £960 to £7000 (somebody obviously didn’t want the work!). I went with local and cheapest.

...then it all went quiet.

Now, don’t get me wrong, conveyancing is a bit of a dark art. I’m sure you need a degree from Hogwarts just to become an admin assistant let alone become a practising solicitor but with the Land Registry providing all the forms required and many people doing it themselves what could be so hard?

Yes, there was the little complication of Covid-19 meaning people weren’t around to sign things when required and, due to the stamp duty holiday or people suddenly realising that they actually hated their current home after being housebound for a year, the housing market was busier than a Yorkshireman in a pie shop.

Both Dylan and I had been told it would take around twelve weeks. So we waited. 12 weeks came and went and an email to my team revealed issues getting bank clearance for the sale on the seller’s side. Nothing to do with them. The estate agents were great at following things up but nothing was happening.

On 23 December I emailed Dylan to resassure him we were still interested - and so began a pincer move to try to put pressure on our respective legal eagles.

Once again, being understanding, house buyers in purchase chains were no doubt able to exert more pressure than two fellas buying/selling a former tip but it was still frustrating: money had been taken out of investments and was just sitting there doing nothing and we‘d got all excited about the project only for it to fizzle away through lack of progress.

It was March before anything appeared to be moving. Dylan’s team passed paperwork to mine but I never saw it for ages. Then there were some issues: a 2.5m high fence had to be erected at the point marked with an inverted T on the plan. What ‘T’? There wasn’t one. It left both Dylan and I scratching our heads and having a site meeting to work out where it might be. Also, my name was spelled wrong on the transfer deed. A not-so-little thing on a legal document!

More emails/calls and we finally completed on 29 May, almost eight months since it first started.

Our patience and tenacity finally paid off - let’s hope the midden lives up to it!