Letters to my conveyancing lawyers
Dear Sirs,
I am sending this email to all the solicitors concerned with the sale of the above property to Mrs B.
The reason I decided to sell, rather than let out this property, was to effect a quick sale to a cash buyer with no mortgage. Had I chosen the letting route I would by now have received some £2,500 in rental income and the value of the property would have increased by perhaps a greater increment.
Mrs B’s offer to purchase was accepted on the 9th May 2014, over 10 weeks ago.
Why oh why are we not close to exchange / completion ?
The lease extension, I was told, would merely be a paper exercise and yet this appears stalled.
You are all very well financially rewarded for the work you do, at, it has to be said, a lamentable pace. Has it not crossed your minds that I, your client, might need the proceeds from this sale to ‘get on with his life’? What if I was involved in another property development? You have been shuffling papers for the same time as we took to up-grade this flat. May I make you aware that as a consequence of your procrastinations I am paying searing charges on my bank overdraft and punishing interest on my credit card. I approach the end of my tether … the whole UK conveyancing process needs shaking-up,
Yours sincerely,
Jamie Summers
4 August 2014
Dear Sirs,
Once again, 3 weeks after my first badinage to you solicitors involved in the sale of the above property and now closing in on 13 weeks since the buyer’s verbal agreement to purchase, I am forced to vent my spleen at your collective deferrals. This time I am copying in the estate agent dealing with the sale and will be sending a copy of this and my previous email to Mrs B. who needs to be made aware of my fomenting frustration.
Harry Mount wrote in The Spectator (28.6.14) “ … conveyancing – a long word used by lawyers to conceal an extremely simple transaction.”
I signed my part of the contract one week ago at the offices of my London solicitors and informed them that I wished to complete at the earliest opportunity. Unless we ‘exchange’ by this coming Friday 8th August I fully intend to cancel this sale and re-advertise the property at a considerably raised price or rent it out as an interim arrangement. None of you lawyers will be involved in any subsequent sale.
I repeat my assertion that you have all contrived to make my life financially burdensome. You should be held to account for your ineffectiveness.
Yours sincerely,
Jamie Summers
4 August 2014
Dear Jamie,
I am surprised by the tone of your email which I find offensive. I have already explained my position by email. I have since met you and dealt with everything I was required to do expeditiously. I will forward separately the emails since our meeting regarding the signed Lease Extensions.
I would appreciate an apology.
Kind Regards.
No apology ever granted