The completion date has to be agreed between the seller and the buyer and their respective solicitors and if there is a chain of transactions above your seller, then those people and their solicitors, so it is quite difficult to give defintie dates until the phone calls have been made and there is little point in doing that until your solicitors have the exchange deposit and the contract and other docuemtns back form you signed.

As far as the general perfiormance is concerned if you are not happy you need to make it clear that you are not happy.

1. Telephone and ask to speak to the person delaing wi tthe matter saying that you are concnered that the process has not been explained to you and you want the opportunity to have things explained. Make a note of when you phoned, get the name of the person you spoke to and what they said. If they promosed someone would phone you back within a certain time, note all that down and tell them you are doing that.

2. If you do get phoned back, ask your questions etc. If you get answers that you feel explain things, fine. If not, tell the person what still concerns you and ask to speak to somebody more senior. If they promise to do that take down the name of the person you are speaking to, and the name of the senior person who is to phone you back.

3. If you get phoned back by the more senior person and they answer your queries, fine. If not telll them that you are going to make a written complaint about their conduct. If they have a website find out the name of the senior partner and e-mail him saying you have acomplaint and its nature. If you can't do that you will haev to write a letter sying you have a complaint and you wnat it addressed.

If at any stage they refuse to give further explnations or to answer your queries then tell them you are oging to write to the senior partner with a complaint. The key thing is to be clear about what you are asking and who you have spoken to and when. If you simply have a vague general impression then it is difficutl for the solicitors to deal with a complaint..

One thing you must understand is that you may have had sen tot you a general written explanation of what happens and how the solicitors deal with a matter for you or this may be on their website. You need to read this first before you ask questions.

As a conveyancing solicitor (assumihng the proeprty is in England/Wales) I believe the information given in the post to be useful but I accept no liability except to fee-paying clients.

You have to get your solicitor to talk to you and explain the process - what has been done and what still needs to be done. If they won't do this then you have grounds for a complaint.

As a conveyancing solicitor I believe the information given in the message to be useful but I accept no liability except to fee-paying clients

Hi

This sound like a normal process to me. At this time of the year there are quite a lot of people looking to complete with Christmas looming.

The vendor saying they will pull out if a date is not agreed by Wednesday, sounds like an empty threat. This is just to put pressure on all sides to get the process moving. What are they going to do, put the house back on the market and hope they can find a cash buyer who can complete quickly.

If I were you, I would phone the solicitors again and ask for a call back with the present position by a given time. If the solicitor does not call back, I would contact the mortgage centre and make a complaint. The solicitor you say was recommended by the mortgage company, so they must keep an eye on the service their customers are receiving.

What I have found in the past is that solicitors on either side are not always very good at working together. It needs a bit of pressure applied by all sides, for them to get their finger out. It think it is a bit late to change to another firm, so you need to pile on the pressure. As well as phoning them, send them a fax and an e-mail.

Huckster