“Completions tend to go more smoothly than in the past” – famous last words to a client on Thursday.
I always speak with my clients on the day before they move so they know what to expect and what to do when. What time should they drop the keys to the estate agent? By what time should they have left the property? What time do they pick up the keys to their new home?
I don’t know the answers to these questions for certain – but I can draw on years of experience to try and explain what happens and when.
However, I am not always right.
This week I found myself increasingly frustrated when the buyers’ monies still hadn’t arrived by two o’clock.
I’d been asking for updates throughout the morning. If you’re like me, I guess you don’t start to push until about 11 o’clock – conveyancers do need coffee to get the day started! But by noon and with no sign of any monies, I was getting concerned.
Silence from the seller’s solicitor; the estate agent couldn’t get through to them. An email sought to reassure me they would tell me as soon as they received the funds.
But that was not what I wanted to know… I wanted to know if the first-time buyer’s solicitor had sent them the funds. Was my buyer’s solicitor as anxious as I was? What was the hold-up? Was it the case that the first-time buyer’s solicitor had only asked for the mortgage monies to be released on the day of completion?
Could somebody please tell me what was going on?
It got to 1pm… and everyone disappeared for lunch.
My calls were met by voicemail – why does this happen? Of course I agree everyone should have a lunch hour, but on a day when there is clearly an issue why just leave us all hanging, waiting for a full hour?
Instead of popping to the local pub to drown my sorrow and frustration, I had a long conversation with my client about what to expect now we were past 1pm. We started to negotiate with the seller’s solicitor (who,like me, was sitting at his desk) as to whether we could have the keys to unload the removal van parked outside the house my clients were buying.
I then received a very blunt one-line email telling me the reason why the monies were not with me.
There was an issue with the apportionments, the first-time buyer’s solicitor had not sent the amount of £8.56, therefore completion at the bottom of the chain could not take place.
Eight pounds and fifty six pence.
I understand that this means that completion cannot take place – but could we adopt some common sense? Could conveyancers pick up the phone and try and agree some form of undertaking? Why should my clients be penalised for this? Because clearly, the cost of my clients having to secure alternative accommodation and incur additional removal expenses and storage costs would be significantly more than £8.56.
We did all complete in the end, at about half past three – once the outstanding monies had been sent.
Can we just talk to each other when this happens? Otherwise it’s the clients suffer.
This column is written by a real high street conveyancer who wishes to remain anonymous. The views expressed are those of the author and not those of Today’s Conveyancer.
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