Can I have my keys now?

There are very many questions which a solicitor has to answer during the process of buying a property. A great many of these questions are straight forward to answer for an experienced conveyancer and for those questions which need a bit of grey matter there are always the textbooks and dusty legal tomes. There is, however, one question which even after 20 years in practice is impossible to give a definitive answer on. Why is this?

The main problem is that there are so many variables involved in finally getting the transaction over the line. In any standard transaction – if there is such a thing - you are relying upon a number of factors which are out with your control and even if you are doing your job to the best of your ability you could still be let down by someone else who has dropped the ball. In getting the transaction to the finishing line we need to rely upon, in no particular order, the following: –

1. The bank sending the loan funds to us on time.

2. The seller’s solicitors providing us with all of the final searches.

3. The seller’s solicitors having the paperwork signed by the seller.

4. Our clients sending the deposit to us.

5. Our bank sending the purchase price to the seller’s solicitors on time.

6. The sellers dropping off the keys to the estate agents.

7. The removal companies turning up.

8. No delay in our client’s sale

9. The postal system not letting us down.

10. The estate agents not losing the keys – it happened last week!

You may be thinking having read the list that it is a miracle that any transactions settle on time. There is no easy solution to ensuring that the transaction settles as quickly as possible on the date of entry but rest assured, I can confirm that I will do absolutely everything that I possibly can to get the keys handed over to my clients as soon as possible. If I end up having to do some of the donkey work which should have be done by the seller’s solicitors, estate agents et ceterathen so be it. The most important thing is for the clients to get the keys to their new property as close to lunchtime as possible and we aim to achieve that every time.