Tuesday, July 05, 2005

My solicitor must have been trained by monkeys

So, I'm currently in the process of trying to buy a house. One of the most stressful things you can EVER do apparently. But you put your trust into the "official" people involved - solicitors, estate agents, mortgage people (and most of your money for the next 100 years) and assume that they know their job better than you do. They must sell loads of houses in a year, and conveyancing should be a walk in the park for solicitors - easy money! Or not. So far, we haven't had much to do with the solicitor recommended by the estate agents - only two things actually. And they were both completely cocked up. Now, I'm not legally trained but I can a) add up and b) read so I caught the sneaky bugger out! Hah, I bet he was cussing me.

The first letter we got was an estimated price for his legal services - this was based on the wrong (ie much higher) house price so nearly gave me a heart attack. So I rang him up and sorted that out. Then we got the official legal report. Luckily I read it very carefully (handy tip for anyone foolish enough to try the same thing - read it all 12 times and then again for luck). He contradicted himself 3 times in the same document. So I rang him again, and got a shirty "put any concerns you have in an email". Which I did. It was great, I quoted his report at length underlining the bits that made no sense so they stood out. He must hate me! But why should we pay some legal monkey loads of money when they make such basic mistakes? I could be my own solicitor at this rate. How can I trust what he says for the very complicated legal jargon they throw at you? Initially I would have just taken his word for it - no more! I'm off to buy an Idiot's Guide to the Law of Conveyancing and thrust it at him every time he cocks up again.

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