Solicitors During The Buying\selling Process

[StocktonLad70]

Hi

During the process of buying and selling a house, why do solicitors always communicate by letter, even to ask the simplest of questions that could be resolved with a phone call or email.

Is it a legal requirement or just old habits

Thanks

[Zacs-Master]

To justify their exorbitant fees?

[sandyRoe]

A phone call might be misunderstood. But an e-mail should be as good as a posted letter. Probably just old habits.

[The Builder]

A lot of them use email all the time, Stockton. Mine does. There's no good reason for post unless it's to send documents.

[bookbinder]

It is possible to speed up the letter exchanging process. I once read an article by a journalist that described how she physically carried letters between the solicitors who were involved in her house sale/purchase, rather than having them sent by mail. That saved a great amount of time, apparently.

[buildersmate]

It is old habits, but many solicitors do now use email.

The cynic in me also says that a process that takes six weeks is more easily justified at a given price than one that takes three weeks. Never forget that a straightforward conveyancing process is four to six hours actual client work, over a six week period, with many gaps waiting for information in between. Other work fills these gaps.

[StocktonLad70]

Thank you. Very interesting points