do I expect too much from my solicitor?

tishia05

Hello all!!

We have recently had offer on the house accepted. Everything was going smoothly until major problem with the structure was found.
We have been waiting for engineers and so on.
It has been 3 weeks. Not even once during that time i received a phone call informing me on progress or/ mainly lack of it for solicitor or agency. I had to call them at the end of every week to keep my sanity. I'm sure it is understandable I would like to know of any changes.
Solicitor was recommended by agent selling the house( a big NO-NO i know now).
I have been waiting engineers report and every there is a delay. I would like to get some answers as I believe I'm being played here.
Few days ago I asked him if he knew of any updates on the house and i didn't even get a reply. I presumed he works on our behalf and keeps our side safe. I feel it is everything but

Am I wrong for expecting that of him? Is this not part of a deal when you pay all that money? Or his job is just simply to register everything
Should I be really calling agent?
Please let me know what you think...

Sunny Dayz

I would imagine that he/she would only contact you when he had news for you or needed to discuss things with you. Solicitors are busy people with a lot of clients and cases going on and they don't really have the time to be ringing clients just to say "nope, no news yet".

MarkAnthony

Deal solely with your solicitor the agent will spin you a yarn.

Set clear expectations with the solicitor, an email/call at the end of each week. I make contact with mine - just the way it's worked. I wouldn't expect him to call me unless I'd given a clear instruction. It's not really a customer service driven profession.

enfant terrible

Been mentioned here a few times not to bother getting a solicitor until you get the structural report back.

Is there any point getting one before you get the all clear?

Skerries

"a big NO-NO i know now"

say that three times fast

MarkAnthony

Skerries wrote: »

"a big NO-NO i know now"

say that three times fast

Just quoting you as a segway :P

Not a No-no really. The solicitor has a duty to you and a relationship with the selling agent is a big plus.

tishia05

That expalins a lot. I wasn't sure what to think about all that. Eiter being ignored or just get on with it type of thing. Thank you! It will help me to come down.

wench

If the delay is being caused by your engineer, why are you blaming the solicitor?
Structural issues are between you and the engineer, with the agent facilitating access as needed.

tishia05

wench wrote: »

If the delay is being caused by your engineer, why are you blaming the solicitor?
Structural issues are between you and the engineer, with the agent facilitating access as needed.

My engineer found the problem. It is up to vendor to prove that it is structuraly sound. We have been waiting for that 3 weeks now and have been told few different stories. most of them "they are coming tomorrow" we are waiting for report" they didn' t come afterall" so on so on

BabySlam

I do not understand why you think the solicitor should be involved yet - he probably wonders are you buying the house despite the negative engineer report?

Radio5

tishia05 wrote: »

My engineer found the problem. It is up to vendor to prove that it is structuraly sound. We have been waiting for that 3 weeks now and have been told few different stories. most of them "they are coming tomorrow" we are waiting for report" they didn' t come afterall" so on so on

So does the vendor have an engineer who is delaying things ? I would imagine, that he/she has to examine the property and do a report in response to the problems that your engineer found. Surely your engineer should be the one following things up.

Your solicitor can do very little at the moment it seems to me.

Miamiheat

My engineer found a problem and told me immediately about it. The next day i had his report. I asked him a very clear question: should i buy the house? He responded NO, do not buy the house. I immediately wrote the EA cancelling the purchase and asking for my deposit back.

Don't take this the wrong way but what kind of information are you waiting from the sellers side?
Do you want the seller's side to convince you to buy a house with a problem or you do not trust your engineer? (which would mean change the engineer).
I wouldn't count on the selling party to be very objective about a defect in a house they are ultimately trying to sell you.

I made the newbie mistake of involving solicitor before engineer and in consequence I paid 700 euros worth of solicitor for nothing on top of the 300 euros for the survey... Now I am back at square one but I know the engineer will go first before the EA gets my solicitor details. Keep in mind a solicitor gets paid for moving the finger as long as it relates to your case. A phone call as short as 30 seconds is billed to you. The less you need the solicitor, the better off you will be.

riclad

THE process on an old house, is you get a full survey done, say the repair bill is 30k, say is it worth spending 30k on repairs , on top of the mortgage, when you could buy a house a mile away that needs 500 euro repairs . You employ a solicitor to put in bids etc , your solicitor will only charge you a token amount, unless you go forward with the house purchase , of this house or any other house. THE main job of the solicitor is to deal with the documents ,folio,etc that are part of the process of the sale of the house ,deeds, etc is there any outstanding bills, etc , make sure all is in order . Also he deals with things like deposits etc ITS not possible to buy a house in ireland with out using the services of a solicitor . its up to you to decide do i want to spend x amount on repairs ,or simply cancel my bid, and look at other houses i may want to buy. it sounds like the delay is caused by the seller , a structural survey ,normally lists various problems , some minor,some major and says it,ll cost say 10 k to fix them. ON certain problems it may need some work to examine the walls etc,eg lift up a floor , or dig near to foundations to see what exactly the problem is , and how much it will cost to fix it . his job is to register all documents,, and stay in contact with the agent ,or the engineer , in order to proceed with the transaction . could you not get in touch with the engineer by email or phone .