Hi,
I am in the final stages of settling on a property and I met with the Solicitor today to read and sign the mortgage documents. I have been generally unimpressed with his service throughout the process and today I felt that he actually didn't know what he was doing.
I would like to get your advice on what I should/am entitled to do about it. I feel that he is borderline incompetent in some areas and if I hadn't paid so much attention (and increased my stress considerably) then something important could have been missed. To outline a few of the things I am talking about:
- Failed to send all parts of the Kiwisaver First Home Withdrawal Form causing a week long delay in process
- On signing the Statutory Declaration he advised me to write "Auckland" in the "Signed on this day in...." section. I said it should be my home address as a previous Lawyer had told me and he said no. Kiwisaver wouldn't accept Auckland and resubmitting the form delayed the process another three days
- Failed to notify the Vendor's solicitor that I was not happy with part of the building report and wanted something rectified. He only complied with my instruction five days after I checked if he had done it.
- Failed to inform the Vendor's Solicitor that we were happy with the LIM and meth even though I instructed him to do so.
- Failed to pay the deposit on Unconditional date as per the Sale and Purchase Agreement, even though I instructed him on the day to do so. We were four days late.
- Took a day off on the original date we had booked to meet to sign the mortgage forms and didn't tell me, so I got off work early to arrive at his closed office.
- And today, completely messed up the Indicative Statement by inputting the settlement balance and Kiwisaver amount, and attempting to charge over $1000 more in fees than the Tax Invoice I was provided.
I think there was a few more things, but this is all that comes to mind at the moment. I really lack confidence in his ability and feel that he is not advising me on the right information (clearly). I am quite diligent with everything and have put all of the legal documents through an experienced friend to verify, and there isn't anything out of the ordinary so I am confident that I have caught everything.
What would you do in this case? His fees are $1750 for general Conveyancing and 3x Kiwisaver withdrawals.
One thing I asked the Solicitor today that he couldn't answer (or perhaps I didn't understand) - in the Letter of Advice from the bank there is a line that states "The Priority Amount is $xxx.xxx - could anyone explain what this is?
Thanks,
Newb
I am in the final stages of settling on a property and I met with the Solicitor today to read and sign the mortgage documents. I have been generally unimpressed with his service throughout the process and today I felt that he actually didn't know what he was doing.
I would like to get your advice on what I should/am entitled to do about it. I feel that he is borderline incompetent in some areas and if I hadn't paid so much attention (and increased my stress considerably) then something important could have been missed. To outline a few of the things I am talking about:
- Failed to send all parts of the Kiwisaver First Home Withdrawal Form causing a week long delay in process
- On signing the Statutory Declaration he advised me to write "Auckland" in the "Signed on this day in...." section. I said it should be my home address as a previous Lawyer had told me and he said no. Kiwisaver wouldn't accept Auckland and resubmitting the form delayed the process another three days
- Failed to notify the Vendor's solicitor that I was not happy with part of the building report and wanted something rectified. He only complied with my instruction five days after I checked if he had done it.
- Failed to inform the Vendor's Solicitor that we were happy with the LIM and meth even though I instructed him to do so.
- Failed to pay the deposit on Unconditional date as per the Sale and Purchase Agreement, even though I instructed him on the day to do so. We were four days late.
- Took a day off on the original date we had booked to meet to sign the mortgage forms and didn't tell me, so I got off work early to arrive at his closed office.
- And today, completely messed up the Indicative Statement by inputting the settlement balance and Kiwisaver amount, and attempting to charge over $1000 more in fees than the Tax Invoice I was provided.
I think there was a few more things, but this is all that comes to mind at the moment. I really lack confidence in his ability and feel that he is not advising me on the right information (clearly). I am quite diligent with everything and have put all of the legal documents through an experienced friend to verify, and there isn't anything out of the ordinary so I am confident that I have caught everything.
What would you do in this case? His fees are $1750 for general Conveyancing and 3x Kiwisaver withdrawals.
One thing I asked the Solicitor today that he couldn't answer (or perhaps I didn't understand) - in the Letter of Advice from the bank there is a line that states "The Priority Amount is $xxx.xxx - could anyone explain what this is?
Thanks,
Newb
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