As I have written before, the joy and frustration of being a conveyancer is that you never know what a day will throw at you. We turn up at work and start dealing with emails, telephone calls and perhaps do some proper law if we get the time! But we need to show the public that there are those calls we do not expect and that can divert the entire course of the day!
Take for example what happened to me on Thursday.
I was happily dealing with emails (well perhaps the use of the word happily is a step too far but I want everyone to know that I was not in a grumpy mood that day). And then I had a phone call from a client asking me when I thought we would be able to proceed and when could I send him the documents for signing. I explained to him that I was waiting to hear from the seller’s solicitor and I would call them to check the position. He told me that he had driven past the house he was buying and thought it was odd as there was a metal grill over the windows.
I called the seller’s solicitor and was told that they were no longer instructed and I needed to speak with the estate agents.
I called the estate agents – who also told me that they were no longer instructed and I should speak with the solicitor.
I explained my predicament – which was that I just needed some one (whoever that could be ) to tell me what was happening. The estate agents could not help. I say ‘could not’ but actually think it was more of a case of ‘would not’ as I did manage to speak with the seller’s solicitor and she told me that the estate agents did know what was happening and that the property had been repossessed but she could not discuss it further.
Think of my poor client – I cannot get him the answer he wants. He needs to know if he is moving house and suddenly we have a curve ball thrown at us! Thinking it through, I guess the estate agents did not want to discuss it as they were not going to be instructed on the sale by the lender. What could we do? My client had spent money on searches, survey, mortgage valuation and did not know what he could do. He asked if I could perhaps call the lender but the lender was obviously not going to speak with me. What should we do? My poor client needed to know if he should give notice on his rental property.
What would you do?
Every day is a school day – we did resolve it later that day but what would you do?
This is written by a real high street conveyancer who wishes to remain anonymous. Read more in Today’s Conveyancer every week.
One Response
The lender might speak with your client.