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How to deal with persistent conveyancers when selling your home

ended 06. March 2024

The Daily Telegraph are doing an advice piece on selling your home and the issues you could come across with your buyer's conveyancers.

Sometimes their requests can massively hold up the sale and people are faced with an unreasonable number of questions /demands. Up to a point, can you refuse to comply if they are just too unreasonable, and what is classed as unreasonable?

Being transparent from the outset is obviously the best course of action from a seller's point of view, but how can you work together to speed up the exchanging process, and end the constant back and forth?

Finally, what if you're asked to take out indemnity insurance - do you have to do this, and who foots the bill?

 

6 responses from the Newspage community

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Ben Perks
Managing Director at Orchard Financial Advisers
Sometimes purchasing a property can become frought with contentious issues and Solicitors can end up going back and forth which leads to unwanted delays and unnecessary stress.
Clarity from all parties at outset is vital, if everyone enters the process with the best intentions deals are much more likely to complete quicker.
Key to this is getting a good team behind you.
Working with a good reputable Conveyancer who communicates well to all parties is essential.
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Aaron Strutt
Product and Communications Director at Trinity Financial
One of the significant issues we find is that it takes some conveyancers so long to ask the questions to confirm what they need. The current system can be very slow.
Sometimes, they ask for documents that people don't have, like boiler reports or electrical safety certificates, or FENSA statements for windows and doors, which people rarely keep. Searches from local authorities can also be incredibly slow or impossible to obtain. Hackney Council was hacked a few years ago, and it is still not operating correctly, which forces homebuyers in the area to purchase homes with indemnity insurance and without the proper checks.
International buyers coming to the UK often can't believe how complex the home-buying process is.
Buyers must watch the timelines to ensure the mortgage offer does not expire because securing extensions is not always possible. This may mean they have to apply again & lose their rate. It seems like transactions were quicker before covid & they are not back up to speed.
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Scott Taylor-Barr
Principal Adviser at Barnsdale Financial Management
From my experience, I tend to find that it is the low-cost providers that have these extraordinarily long lists of questions and enquiries they ask; I think, driven by the fact they are hiring younger and less experienced practitioners. Where a more experienced conveyancer has been involved in the transactions many of these enquiries are not asked, simply because the professional involved has the skill and experience to know they are not required. If someone chooses their conveyancer simply based on who gave them the lowest cost, I can't say it's then going to be a surprise if the service isn't 5-star. However, as a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, the choice of one person in the chain to employ the cheapest operator they can will then impact everyone else too.
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Akhil Mair
Director at Our Mortgage Broker
Navigating the conveyancing process during a home sale can be fraught with challenges, from excessive demands to outdated practices. As Managing Director at Our Mortgage Broker, I'm committed to addressing these issues head-on for our mortgage borrowers.

When faced with unreasonable requests from buyers conveyancers, sellers should exercise discretion and push back when necessary. Transparency and clear communication from the outset are vital for expediting the exchange process.

Collaboration between sellers and buyers' conveyancers is key to reducing delays and minimising back-and-forth communication. Regarding indemnity insurance, it's important to assess its necessity and cost-sharing arrangements, typically negotiated during the sale process.

In essence, promoting pragmatism, cooperation, and transparency can streamline conveyancing and ensure a smoother home sale experience for all involved.
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Gary Bush
Financial Adviser at MortgageShop.com
Selling your property can be stressful, especially if the buyers solicitors raise lots of queries. Some of this can be down to whether the buyers are using an experienced solicitor - trainees/newly qualified or solicitors that have not been practising for a long time want to dot every I and cross every T and may not be prepared to take a view on historic planning/building regs documents like an experienced long practising solicitor.

The best advice would be to answer all queries in as much detail as quickly as you can even though this can be frustrating. However, if the situation really is going on, the next step would be to involve the Agent to put some pressure on the buyers to speak to their solicitor to find out whether the issues being raised really are important or not! Sometimes they are important and so if this is so, you need to be as proactive as possible. If an indemnity policy needs to be obtained, you can negotiate payment for this - a 50/50 split is not uncommon.
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Tim Allcott
Managing Partner at Allcott Associates
Unfortunately, there's not much you can do about a poor choice of conveyancer on the buyer's side, and pushing back on queries ultimately just holds up the sale.

I would recommend being as amenable as possible, even if you need to grit your teeth to do it. Ultimately, the buyer's conveyancer is going to want to see the information they've asked for before moving forwards, however unreasonable it may seem.

I would make use of your estate agent in these cases though - make them earn their fees! While you won't be permitted to speak to the buyer's solicitors, your agent can and should be in contact with them, to understand the source of these queries and concerns and find solutions so you can all move forwards.

Re. indemnity insurance, this is usually a negotation. In a sellers' market you have a strong rationale for pushing for the buyer to pay; however, if you have been given a strong offer and it's in your interest to move quickly, it might be worth paying it to secure your sale.