Information for clients of Premier Property Lawyers, JS Law, DC Law and Advantage Property Lawyers has today (17th November 2021) been released by the firms regulator the Council for Licenced Conveyancers (CLC).
You can read their release here CLC – The Specialist Property Law Regulator (clc-uk.org)
The statement sets out that ‘the firms cannot currently provide their individual clients with rapid updates on the progress of their transaction’.
Clients are being contacted in order of priority.
Clients who have not yet exchanged contracts with their seller or buyer must consider whether to wait to progress their transactions when Simplify’s systems are running again or whether to instruct a different conveyancer. The limited access Simplify currently has to transaction files means that they cannot currently provide files to another conveyancer. CLC state that they are pressing Simplify to address this.
Clients who wish to change solicitor as a result of this incident will not be charged for the work that has been completed by Simplify. Simplify have also confirmed that land searches already completed, once available, may be transferred to the newly appointed solicitor.
‘You will need to weigh up how far along in the transaction you are’ said Cathy Wahlberg, Managing Director at Alsters Kelley Solicitors Ltd. ‘If you have already exchanged Simplify will be able to complete the transaction. If you have only recently started your transaction it may be easier to move solicitors but with no time frame it is difficult to know whether there will be a delay in starting again or waiting for the issues to be resolved’.
The Conveyancing team here at Alsters Kelley will be happy to discuss your personal circumstances on a no obligation basis to help you make a decision if you are thinking about changing solicitors.
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