Impact of Third Party Delays

Please be aware that the timescales quoted to you in our client care letters may be adversely impacted by delays by third parties.  Although the firm will do all that we can to expedite matters for you such delays are very much outside of the firm’s control.

Set out below is a non exhaustive list of examples of potential delays relating to individual departments.  However, all departments may encounter delays in the following circumstances:

Opposing Party and Transactional Delays

• Other Side’s Inaction: Delay in the opposing party taking necessary actions, such as signing documents, providing disclosure, or responding to correspondence.
   
• Funding Delays: Delays in receiving funds from mortgage lenders or third-party funders.
   
• Deliberate Strategic Delays: Opposing parties using tactics like requesting excessive information, filing late applications, or seeking multiple adjournments to increase costs and stress.
   

External Environmental & Technical Factors

• Cybersecurity Incidents: A third-party supplier's cyberattack disrupting a firm’s access to its own case management systems.
   
• Banking System Failures: Delays in completing legal transactions due to failures in external banking or payment systems.
   

Potential delays in respect of individual departments

Residential Conveyancing

• Local Searches often take around 2-3 weeks to arrive and could potentially take 8 – 12 weeks from some local Councils. This could have a detrimental effect on conveyancing matters where there is a long chain and a purchaser joins that chain later than the others and the delay in them obtaining a local search impacts others further up or down the chain.  Sometimes a search indemnity policy might be possible, where it is acceptable to any the parties encountering the delay and their mortgage lender.  If your Local Search is subject to delays we can discuss with you whether an indemnity policy may be a way forward.  We are not able to persuade any third party in a chain to accept an indemnity policy where it is their Local Search which is causing delay.
   
• Following completion of a matter there may be a delay in registering the property at the Land Registry. Timescales at H M Land Registry have greatly increased over the last few years.   A straightforward change of ownership can take around 5 months to be processed but it is not uncommon currently for the Land Registry to take over a year to complete an application for registration for more complex transactions such as the registration of a new lease, the registration of a new build purchase, the first registration of a property, a Transfer of Part.
  
  In fact it is not  unusual for them to take over 2 years for complex applications of this kind.  We have no control over this and the Land Registry will only expedite an application if evidence of financial or other hardship (such as it preventing another transaction proceeding) can be provided.  It may therefore be some considerable time after completion that we are able to provide the updated title to you.  It is therefore possible that a later sale or remortgage of the property could be delayed if Land Registry have not yet processed the application to register your ownership.
  
  Whilst evidence of the proposed sale or remortgage or other transaction would be sufficient to require Land Registry to expedite the application, they can take 14 days to look at the expedition request and even expedition is approved this only means that they will then start processing the application.  It does not guarantee the speed within which they will actually complete it and we are unable to control their internal processes.
   
• Surveyor/Valuer Shortfalls: Delays in property surveys or expert valuations needed for transactions.  We have no control over the speed with which Surveyors or Valuers are able to produce any report which may have been requested by you or any party within the chain.
   
• Delays in a chain: A conveyancing matter will only proceed as quickly as the slowest party in a chain is able to proceed.   Whilst we will be able to chase the solicitor acting for your buyer or seller we will generally not have the contact details for the solicitors further up or down the chain and, even where we do, typically they will be unwilling to provide updates to us.  We cannot control the speed with which other parties in the chain deal with their own transactions and you may experience delay whilst you wait for other parties in a chain to catch up.

Litigation

• Potential Court and Property Tribunal delays as follows:
   
  • If a Court Order for Possession is obtained which is not complied with by a Defendant there may be delays in sending in the bailiffs and High Court enforcement officers afterwards – typically we are seeing delays of up to eight weeks for the local courts and 17 weeks for London and other city courts
     
  • Issue of proceedings in the First-tier Tribunal where we are seeking delays of about six months
     
  • Backlogged Court Dates: Slow scheduling or cancellations of hearings, especially in personal injury or landlord and tenant disputes.
     
  • Administrative Errors: Misplaced files, delayed service of documents either by the Court or independent process servers, or slow responses from court staff.
     
  • Judicial Availability: Unexpected illness, vacancies, or holidays impacting court timetables.
     
  • Managing agents – where we rely on your agents to provide us with information
     
• Surveyor/Valuer Shortfalls: Delays in property surveys or expert valuations needed for transactions.
   
• Third party experts: Delays in expert valuations needed for settlement or in court proceedings.
   
• Third party insurers – where your legal costs may be recovered under a legal expenses policy
   
• Costs lawyers when the costs of the proceedings cannot be settled by agreement
   
• Land Registry:  Occasionally we may have to make an application to HMLR but because of the delays in registration of property these days (see the Residential Conveyancing section above), we may not be able to act immediately because while a client may own the property in equity they are not the legal owner until the property is registered in their name and therefore may not be able to start litigation as quickly as they would like.

Private Client

• HMRC can take up to 12 months to provide input on Income Tax, Inheritance Tax and Capital Gains Tax matters in respect of an Estate which will hold up our ability to complete the Administration of an Estate.
   
• Probate Registry Backlogs: Significant delays in obtaining grant of representation from the Probate Registry for estate administration.
   
• For a Power of Attorney for a donor in declining health the OPG are taking a minimum of 4 months to register and it cannot be used until it has been registered. A potential solution could be that, under the 1971 POA Act, a general Power of Attorney for finances only that lasts a year and does not have to be registered could be the way around the potential issue whilst waiting for the full one to be registered.
   
• Court of Protection Backlog: the Court of Protection are experiencing significant delays and it can take 12-18 months for an application to be placed before a judge, impacting the ability of a potential Deputy to manage a persons affairs.
   
• Land Registry Delays: typically we are finding it is taking 12-18 months for the Land Registry to process certain applications, such as Transfers or Assents. Delays may also arise where HM Land Registry raise requisitions requiring further information or amendments, or where third parties are required to deal with the discharge of charges or compliance with title restrictions. In certain circumstances we can ask the Land Registry to expedite registration but even then it can take the land registry 14 days to consider it before it is then put forward to be expedited – this could impact you if you want to remortgage or sell a property but the registration still hasn’t been completed.

Family

• Court availability and delays - The Family Court is often very busy, and delays can arise in a number of different ways. For example:
   
  • There may be a wait of several months to list hearings, particularly for Financial Dispute Resolution (FDR) hearings or final hearings.
     
  • Hearings can be adjourned at short notice, for example due to limited court time, overlisting, or issues with paperwork.
     
  • Cases may be delayed due to judicial availability, including illness, holidays, or changes in the judge assigned to your case.
     
  • There can be delays caused by administrative issues, such as court staff processing applications, sending out orders, or dealing with documents.
     
  • If interpreters or specialist court resources are required, availability issues can also lead to postponements.
     
• Pension providers and experts - Obtaining pension valuations (particularly for public sector or military schemes) or reports from pension experts can take several months.
   
• Financial and business experts - Delays may occur if accountants, tax advisers or business valuation experts take time to provide financial information or reports.
   
• Property-related matters - Mortgage lenders, surveyors, managing agents or the Land Registry may take time to provide information needed to finalise a settlement.
   
• CAFCASS and local authorities - In children cases, reports from CAFCASS officers or social services can take longer than expected due to workload pressures.
   
• Medical and other experts - If expert evidence is required (for example from doctors, psychologists or independent social workers), waiting times and report preparation can cause delays.
   
• Police or safeguarding information - There may be delays in obtaining disclosure or records where safeguarding issues are involved.
   
• Banks, employers and other third parties - Delays can arise when obtaining financial statements, confirming income, or gathering other relevant information from third parties.

Company Commercial

• Company House Filings: Delays in updating corporate records or processing registrations
   
• Project Funding
   
• Tax Clearances
   
• Work being undertaken by other professionals such as Accountants
   
• Excessive or unreasonable negotiations or renegotiating agreed terms

Injury

• Medical Records: Significant delays in obtaining copy medical and radiology records from certain hospitals – anticipated application times are in the region of 9-12 months – this can be mitigated by early applications and/or you seeking a specific Subject Access Request for disclosure of your personal medical records.
   
• Medical Reports: Delays from medical experts in providing examination dates and preparing reports for personal injury claims.
   
• Insurer delays: Increasing number of insurers refusing to accept calls from individual claimants or claimant’s legal representatives and only responding to e-mail correspondence in strict date order with no ability to short circuit the process
   
• Potential Court delays as follows:
   
  • Backlogged Court Hearing dates and transfer of cases from central courts to local County Court for case progression and allocation of case.
     
  • Backlogged Court Dates: Slow scheduling, duplicate listing or short notice cancellations of hearings, especially in personal injury or landlord and tenant disputes.
     
  • Administrative Errors: Misplaced files, delayed service of documents, or slow responses from court staff.
     
  • Judicial Availability: Unexpected illness, vacancies, or holidays impacting court timetables.

Employment

• Delays in the Employment Tribunal process may arise due to:
   
  • the high volume of claims being processed at any one time
     
  • the necessity to convene a preliminary hearing on most cases other than unfair dismissal.
     
  • late postponement of hearings and trials due to lack of judicial availability – some hearings may be postponed the day before despite months of prior delay.
     
  • Judgments may be delayed due to limited judicial and administrative resource.
     
  • Enforcement steps may be lengthy and delayed due to court resources and back-log of matters.
     
  • Given the adversarial process involved in litigation, delays may be caused by unexpected events such as:
     
    • witness unavailability or non-attendance at trial,
       
    • applications to delay and postpone matters including case management orders and listed hearings,
       
    • additional claims being issued and subsequently heard together.
       
  • Prioritisation of high impact matters such as injunctions; High Court matters of extreme urgency. 

Commercial Property

• Land Registry: Commercial property transactions frequently require the involvement of HM Land Registry. Whilst standard applications may be processed within expected timescales, more complex applications (such as first registrations, large development titles or lease plans requiring approval) can take significantly longer. Delays may also arise where HM Land Registry raise requisitions requiring further information or amendments, or where third parties are required to deal with the discharge of charges or compliance with title restrictions.
   
• Local Authority and Planning: Delays may arise in obtaining planning permissions, lawful development certificates or the discharge of planning conditions. Local authorities may also take time to respond to enquiries or to complete Section 106 or Section 278 agreements. In addition, issues relating to the Community Infrastructure Levy can delay progress where clarification or compliance is required.
   
• Landlords and Managing Agents: Where the property is leasehold, delays are commonly encountered when obtaining landlord’s consent to assign, underlet or carry out alterations. This can be prolonged where detailed financial references are required or where superior landlord consent is needed. Managing agents may also delay in providing management information, including service charge accounts and insurance details. Completion may also be delayed while deeds of covenant or rent deposit deeds are agreed and completed.
   
• Lenders and Funders: Delays may arise in securing finance, including the issue of facility letters and loan documentation. Lenders’ solicitors may take time to review transaction documentation, particularly where complex security arrangements are involved. Transactions may also be delayed whilst valuations or updated reports required by lenders are obtained.
   
• Searches, Surveys and Specialist Reports: Commercial property transactions frequently require a range of searches, surveys and specialist reports, including environmental reports, asbestos surveys, EPCs and fire risk assessments. Delays may occur due to availability of inspectors or consultants, and additional site-specific reports (such as highways or rights of light reports) may further extend the timescale.
   
• Utilities and Infrastructure Providers: Utility providers may delay in responding to searches or in progressing new connections, upgrades or diversions. Transactions may also be delayed where wayleave or easement agreements are required, or where arrangements are needed for telecoms or fibre installations.
   
• Title Issues and Third Party Consents: Where title defects arise, delays may occur while indemnity insurance is arranged, particularly if insurers require further information. Transactions may also be delayed where third party consent is needed under restrictive covenants, or where there are complications involving unregistered land or absent landlords requiring statutory procedures.
   
• Companies House and Corporate Matters: Where a party to the transaction is a company, delays may arise in obtaining the necessary corporate authorities or completing Companies House filings (including the registration of charges). Transactions involving group structures may also require multiple internal approvals, which can impact timescales.
   
• Insolvency and Distressed Situations: Where a seller is acting by an insolvency practitioner or receiver, delays may arise due to limited information being available or slow responses to enquiries. In some cases, court approval may be required before a transaction can proceed.
   
• Cross-Border or Overseas Elements: Where a transaction involves overseas parties, delays may arise whilst documents are notarised or legalised, or whilst compliance is achieved with registration requirements (such as those relating to overseas entities). Time zone differences and translation requirements may also affect the speed of progress.
   
• Tax Authorities: Delays may arise where input or confirmation is required from HM Revenue & Customs, for example in relation to VAT matters (including options to tax) or SDLT, particularly where the position is complex or requires clarification.