Is your house sale not going so well? Are you beginning to struggle with your conveyancer? Is your professional relationship with them breaking down? Did you know that you don’t have to stick with the same conveyancer and you can change them at any time?
Moving is stressful at the best of times and when you’re having to sell the family home, it adds to the complexity. The home is really the root of stability for any family and a less than smooth conveyancing process can really add to the problem when selling one.
Before changing your legal advisor, it is important to identify that your primary issue is indeed the conveyancing. Remember, they cannot control the property market itself and a failure for a property to sell or buying opportunities is not necessarily the responsibility of the conveyancer. If you have had buyers or you are attempting to sell and had the process fall through late paperwork, or there are technical issues with signing off or negotiating contracts this is a good sign that you could move away from your current legal advisor.
A change of solicitor mid sale may sound like a headache but it is not as hard as you might think and if it prevents future failed sales, it could be well worth the effort.
The easiest way to do it is to approach a legal firm that your current advisor works for and explain the situation and that you would prefer to work with one of their other staff. Oftentimes, they would be more willing to switch you to possibly more experienced conveyancer rather than see you as a lost client.
If your current conveyances work alone as an independent contractor or a sole trader you will have to complete your business with them before changing to a new one, any outstanding bills will have to be paid, even if you are less than satisfied with it. The work done will have to be paid for; the terms and conditions of this are usually in the contract that you signed when you originally took them on as your representative, so you should read through them carefully. As sometimes there are agreements that no cost will be incurred if a sale has not been achieved allowing you to leave them without financial consequence.
The worst case scenario would be getting into an ambiguous dispute with your current solicitor that can spiral into small claims court or civil matters. Although improbable, if you feel that significant financial harm has been done to you due to poor work, this would be something that you should discuss with your new legal advisor. It is strongly suggested that you seek out a fully licensed conveyancing solicitors Portsmouth rather than a licensed conveyancer; if you are faced with such a complex situation that warrants a wider knowledge of the law, this would be more than you would be able to get from a licensed conveyancer.
Both licensed conveyancers and solicitors have regulatory bodies which maintain the industry’s standards. You can complain to these bodies if you feel the services you are getting are questionable.