Interesting call from a client this week… we all have those calls where as we are talking, we raise our eyebrows in silent surprise and end the call with a feeling of … well you know… did I just have that conversation?
So here is the gist of it (names and addresses have been changed to protect the innocent!)
(JS) Hi , it’s Joe Smith – I don’t know if you remember me but you helped me move house about four years ago.
(Me) Oh yes, Joe – you bought 4 Acacia Avenue with your girlfriend at the time.
(JS) That’s right. Well we have split up and she has taken me to the cleaners and we are having to sell the house so what I was thinking is that I would like you to do the conveyancing as you were so good last time.
(Me) That will be fine but she will need to agree.
(JS) Great. Well what I thought was that because she has ripped me off, I will need to save money on costs so on the purchase of the house I am getting on my own, I thought, well, I thought I could do some of the work myself.
(Me) What do you mean? Building work?
(JS) No – the legal part. I have done some research and it does not seem that difficult. I have seen that I can order the searches myself and then I will put them through AI so that it can see if there are any issues. I will also do the stamp duty return myself and then lodge the Land Registry application. You will just need to check the deeds. I reckon that will reduce my charges with you to about £150. Is that ok?
And while I am mentioning the stamp duty, if you could push to get it through by the end of March, that would be really good. Can we do this?
(Me) Do you have a lender?
(JS) Yes.
(Me)Then the answer is no. And two things; to be honest, even if you did not have a lender, I would not be comfortable acting in this way, and secondly, and to be brutally honest, I do not think that you will have any chance of completing before the end of March. Oh and also my fees have gone up considerably in the last four years so I will send you some figures over but it will not be cheap.
(JS) Ok – no worries, I will try somewhere else
It would make a great exam question
The question would be: Why would you decline to act for the client ?
He was a lovely guy but I remember him being very demanding… remind me why we do this job!
This is written by a real high street conveyancer who wishes to remain anonymous. Read more in Today’s Conveyancer every week.
2 responses
I think the one comment by a client to me many years ago was “why is it taking so long, it’s just signing a piece of paper isn’t it?”….that has stuck with me for years! If it’s that simple, what the heck have I been messing around with doing all those years of training, exams and gaining experience in the workplace??
Yesterday, I was explaining to my client that I was going on holiday and wanted to complete before I go away. He wanted to complete a week later. He said something to the effect of “Surely sombody else in your office and click whatever needs to be clicked.”. So in his mind the process of completion comes down to a single click of a mouse. You can’t blame them I suppose, but it is very difficult to manage peaoples expectations.