Solicitor refuses to return our deeds

leosayer39

Hi all

We were selling our house and buying another, until very recently, when the chain broke.
The person at the bottom of the chain pulled out, and the whole chain collapsed after that.

Anyway, we wrote to our solicitor, and asked them to return to us the deeds to our property together with a statement of our account.

They have written back today and stated that they are not prepared to return the deeds to our property until we settle our account in full.

How bad is that!! What disgraceful behaviour.

Does anyone know where we stand on this matter?

One more thing, we instructed our solicitor on a no sale no fee basis.
The chain fell apart due to no fault of our own and our solicitor says that because we were at the exchange stage, then all of their accrued fees are now payable.

At the point when the chain collapsed, our solicitor was awaiting certain information from one of the other solicitors in the chain in order to complete. Our solicitor was also awaiting information from the landowner of our new property.

As I see the situation, we could not have been at the exchange stage because our solicitor did not have all the information necessary to exchange.

Does anyone other than myself think that we are having the wool pulled over our eyes?

I hope that someone can help me in this regard and I look forward to your comments

Leo

WillowCat

To be honest I wouldn't expect the solicitors to return paperwork before the account has been settled.

It's the easiest leverage they have to ensure the bill gets paid. It's not a nice feeling for the 99% of us who are honest but that's life nowadays.

I'm in the same position as you - well actually a little further along as I have settled my bill now. My sols hung on to the paperwork anyway as if I found another buyer they would pick up from where they left off (we were a day away from exchange) and not recharge for the work providing it was within six months.

poppysarah

You need to look at the terms you agreed to. No sale no fee sounds unbelievable!

Worth looking at negotiating if the terms say you need to pay.

PasturesNew

No sale, no fee is quite common, however, that is usually on the basis that the solicitor will continue and do the work on the next sale too. As you're asking for your stuff back and the bill, it sounds like you've dispensed with his services, in which case there is a bill due.

I bet the no sale/no fee applies where there is eventually a sale.

clutton_2

i guess - but dont know - that the no-sale-no-fee wont include disbursements (local authority searches and the like)

dexters_mum_2

It could be you have to pay for the disbursements, but the solicitor won't have charged you for his or her time in preparing the documents.
Have you paid for searches etc, these will be non-refundable, though if the chain manages to piece itself back together again, they can be used again.

I would certainly ask the solicitor for a statement of accounts and the terms of the no sale no fee agreement, but if you owe monies, I wouldn't expect them to return the deeds until the account is cleared.

Premier_2

leosayer39 wrote: »

...They have written back today and stated that they are not prepared to return the deeds to our property until we settle our account in full.
...

Why don't you settle your account?

If you don't agree with what the solicitor is charging you, discuss it with him and explain why you don't think you owe such money. I'm sure he'll be able to justify his own bill, although even solicitors make the odd mistake (they're human after all) and any thing billed in error would certainly be corrected especially if you approach them in an amicable way

This approach probably won't do you many favours

leosayer39 wrote:

How bad is that!! What disgraceful behaviour.

leosayer39

Premier wrote: »

Why don't you settle your account?

If you don't agree with what the solicitor is charging you, discuss it with him and explain why you don't think you owe such money. I'm sure he'll be able to justify his own bill, although even solicitors make the odd mistake (they're human after all) and any thing billed in error would certainly be corrected especially if you approach them in an amicable way

This approach probably won't do you many favours

To answer your first question, I would refer you to my first post in this thread in which I clearly stated that the solicitor was instructed on a no sale no fee basis.

Our sale did not take place, through no fault of our own, and therefore there should be no fee.

To answer your other comments I would advise that we have today written to our solicitors to ask them for a detailed breakdown of our account.

Just so that you are all in the picture our bill is just short of a grand!!

As for my approach not doing me any favours; well......I do think that saying that they are going to hold onto our deeds, and use them a lever to ensure that the bill is paid is indeed quite disgraceful.

I am aware that I have to pay for disbursements and I have no objection to that at all.

I have started a seperate thread regarding the value of house deeds.

Leo

clutton_2

did they send you a set of T&Cs for you to sign before you started the purchase process - that is what normally happens? did these T&Cs specify exactly what no sale no fee meant ?

leosayer39

clutton wrote: »

did they send you a set of T&Cs for you to sign before you started the purchase process - that is what normally happens? did these T&Cs specify exactly what no sale no fee meant ?

I ll get back to you on this when I have checked it all out. I have kept all the paperwork

Leo

lincroft1710

They can also put a charge on your house if you fail to pay