Case Number 772000
The purchase was never completed, but I endured three months of a interesting unprofessiaonal experience. The caseworker consistently failed to respond to my requests. For instance, it took three weeks to get an answer on how much it would cost to leave the dishwasher in the house—three weeks after the estate agent confirmed that the response had been sent. I was unable to reach the caseworker for three weeks, and no, she was not on vacation (at least, that's what I was told). Escalating the issue to the caseworker's team leader only helped on the third attempt.
The caseworker NEVER informed me that the mortgage offer from the bank had not been received, despite my sending a copy of the mortgage offer to her. You will never receive any confirmation letters, such as "requested documents have been received," nor will you get any notifications about to-do items, like paying to start the search process. In the end, I was somewhat relieved that the purchase was canceled because it allowed me to move on to other solicitors!