Looking to Change my Solicitor

In the Process of buying my First Investment property and was recommended a Solicitor by my Buyers Agent .All the Standard paperwork was initiated.Asked them to go ahead with the Searches as per their checklist which all came out good.Called them about all the other ones in their list and asked them to initiate the Building approval search as well.
2 and a half weeks later my Finance was approved.They asked me to mail them so that they could inform the sellers team that Finance was approved and that the contract was now unconditional.
Couple of days later as i was havin a look at the paperwork realised that the Building approval wasnt emailed to me.Asked them and they send it right.

I noticed that the Search was completed much Prior to the Finance going Unconditional.
Also noticed that there was a pending application for Approval dating back over 25 years for alterations to the lower part of a 35 year old Queenslander. The alterations were carried out but were not Finalised .Not sure why.
Called them up seeking an explanation why this wasnt picked up and i was informed.
The Solicitor then quickly called me up and said that they had mailed it to me which was a lie and then emailed me to try and prove it which was obvious that they were now in damage control mode.


Have lost faith in them and settlement is about 3 weeks away .
Isn't the Solicitor supposed to go through the search and send me some Feedback if there is anything sticking out.
Ther was nothing in the mail and all i got was the Building search attachment without any explanation.They have obviously not read it.
Where do i go from here and can I contact another Solicitor at this stage.Am a bit concerned what they may do next.

 

I think it is a bit too late now.

 

Can you elaborate a bit please

 

Mail takes about a week nowadays.

Solicitor has done most of their work already, getting another one in now will only delay things. Being in Qld you are at risk of default if you don't settle on the appointed day.

 

Rightly or wrongly, the solicitor I use doesn’t read/ interpret each search. They simply send me the searches and if I have queries I could ask for their opinion which may or may not incur a further fee. This is fine by me. I guess what might be a red flag to someone, might be a non issue for someone else. There may be other solicitors that fulfil a different requirement though.

 

Is it unusual that the lawyer is still relying on mail instead of emailing or a mail server?

 

I understand your pains but if you switch now, you risk delays due to transition. Probably all searches are done and there may not be more issues. You may also get near double charges from 2 solicitors.

on the other hand, there may be more issues dealing with the vendors, and incompetent solicitor might give you more headaches. So it depends on if you expect more issues or not.

 

I wouldn’t trust our mail system. If it doesn’t get lost or delivered to the wrong address then it’s sloowww as.

 

Unfortunately once the solicitor acquire a client its very difficult to move out. I just hope there is disruption in the Real Estate industry and all these time and money consuming red tapes are weeded out.

 

Got a call from the solicitor admitting it was their mistake.Have now agreed to waive off their fees .

 

So whats the impact of the oversight? Can you get the alterations approved now? Have to tear it down? Wait for council to send notices?