It’s 10am – I’ve just finished my cup of coffee. Before I can even put the mug down, I hear my secretary trying to calm down a client on the phone; said client has just found out that the buyer of her buyer’s house has decided not to proceed.
My secretary explains that there is little we can do, passes the phone to me, and I continue to listen to the client and calm her down, explaining that we are not in fact told which firms are acting in the lower part of the chain.
Said client calms down, apologises for being so distraught, and agrees that she will speak with the agent and remarket the property.
Having acted as a counsellor, I go back to my computer only to find a further 42 emails. One is from a buyer’s solicitor with a letter attached which contains – wait for it – three pages of enquiries.
I was tempted to turn to LinkedIn but didn’t have time to do so, though as I read through the questions, my blood temperature increased to the point where I wanted to crawl under the desk and hope that, by the time I came out from under the desk, the questions had miraculously been answered, or just disappeared. But we all know that if we do not answer them, then the buyer’s solicitor will tell our client that we are being unhelpful and they will not proceed without the answers to these questions.
I was asked how the radon gas was supplied; whether there was a conservatory on a two-storey flat; and whether I had met my client in the pub for a beer – well, actually, they weren’t the questions, but you all know what I mean! There are certain firms I dread acting for the other party as I know that there will be so much timewasting, let alone eating away at the small profit I will make.
I highlight the questions my client needs to answer and ask my secretary to call the client and go through the questions with her. I don’t really want to email them as that will just lead to 25 more emails before I have had my next cup of coffee. Is it too early for alcohol? Well, of course it is – it’s not even 11am yet.
Next, the accounts department calls to let me know that the completion monies on a sale have arrived. I instruct them to repay the mortgage and send the monies onto the next solicitor in the chain.
I call my client to give her the good news that she can now start to think about dropping her keys to the agent, but there is no answer. I try her husband’s number – no answer on that either. Obviously too busy, so will try again in half an hour.
The estate agent then calls to say they have heard that the monies should be with me; I tell them that is the case, but I cannot get hold of my clients to update them. Estate agent huffs (there has been a lot of huffing this morning and it is not even 11:30am), and as the call ends, I decide I need another cup of coffee.
I then call the solicitor for the seller of the house my clients are buying to tell them that the funds are on the way, but cannot get to speak to anyone and am told to email – why is it that everything has to be emailed? A phone call is so much easier.
I email, only to receive a reply which says that said solicitor will respond in the next three days – I laugh and think how ridiculous that is – imagine saying to your client, “sorry, you cannot move house today as the other solicitor has a three-day period in which to reply to emails”. The client would say, “well, ring them then”. I would say, “well, I did and was told that I had to put the message in an email”.
The afternoon awaits. Get me that next cup of coffee…
This is written by a real high street conveyancer who wishes to remain anonymous. Read more in Today’s Conveyancer every week.
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One Response
Agents should provide a chain sheet.