Please help!! Me complain against conveyancing firm

tony58_3

Hi guys i;ll try not to go into too much, anyway i seen a house in March 09 and put offer in got accepted. The house is owned by a builder/property developer, which he bought in part exchange from a couple who he sold a brand new house to in Nov 08. The house has been vacant all this time.

anyway the mortgage part all approved and completed in May09, i then instructed my solicitor in the last week of May to start the conveyancing work, the vendor seemed like a very fishy guy from the start so i was always worried about him having other buyers on the side, as suspected from the conversations we had (only spoke to him on the phones, numbers were exchanged through estate agents), but he never openly admitted it. Anyway, last thursday gone, my solicitor recieved a call from the vendor solictor to say that the vendor is pulling out the sale, and following day she gets an email to say that he has exchanged contracts with another buyer, and we was hoping to exchange next week.

So i then said to my solicitor i didnt think it was possible for him to have 2 contracts running at the same time, and it wouldnt have been possible for them to complete all the conveyancing work within 24 hours, she said no its not, and him and the conveyancing firm have broken the law, as they had 2 contracts running at the same time without telling us.

From the conversations i'v had with him in the past, it seems as though he is very close to the conveyancing firm as he does all his business through them.

This has caused me alot of stress, as i have spent alot of money so far in fees, and feel very helpless, i have tried to contact the vendor but he does not answer his phone, can anybody please give me some advise, because i dont want him to get away lightly.

Do i have any rights at all from my position?? Where exactly can i get help from?? i understand that he has the right to sell the house to who he wants, but it would have been ethical for him to tell me that he had 2 buyers at the same time, and maybe i would have kept away from this house, and not missed other potential opportunities.

Hippychick

You should have been informed if there was a contract race going on, certainly his solicitors should have informed your solicitors.

I would contact the solicitors regulation authority or council for licensed conveyancers (depending on what sort of firm he used) and make a complaint against them.

GDB2222

There's nothing illegal about sending out two contracts. The Solicitors' professional code requires a solicitor to inform the other parties if he sends out a second contract, so he might be due a rap on the knuckles. I doubt that you would get any compensation. It is possible for the builder to instruct two solicitors to act for him, one for each buyer, so that neither of his solicitors knows about the two contracts.

On a separate point, why did you leave it from March to end of June to exchange contracts? I don't blame the builder for getting cold feet.

tony58_3

thanks for the reply guys, there was no need for the builder to get cold feet, because he was kept upto date regularly with the progress, this is my first house purchase, so i wanted to make sure i had a mortgage in place before i started the convayencing work, as if the mortgage didnt go through, i would have been wasting my money, and he used the very same solicitors for both of the contracts, and neither me or my solicitors were informed of this.

Doozergirl

For future reference, you can be given a mortgage offer on a property that your solicitor themselves find is not suitable for a mortgage. Your mortgage company could indeed not like something that looks fine on paper to the solicitor, but the same can happen the other way around - a structurally sound house could be found to be unmortgagable by your solicitor.

You have a solicitor for a reason. They too are looking for any reason why the purchase is unsound for you and a lender and so it's false economy really to wait for a mortgage offer before you've done any conveyancing work. The risk of attempting to buy a house is generally one risk; you can't split it up.

It's my understading, btw that you can complete conveyancing work via indemnity insurances for cash buyers within 24 hours.

clutton_2

""It's my understading, btw that you can complete conveyancing work via indemnity insurances for cash buyers within 24 hours.""

they will have done a "conditional Exchange"

pawpurrs

Its against law society guidelines to have two contracts issued at the same time, without informing the other party that there is another contract issued.
I recently had a new offer accepted on my property, there was an old contract out to someone who still wants it, but needs to get the money from abroad so it was on hold, and that buyer knew we were carrying on markerting untill they were procedable, as soon as I agreed the sale with the new buyers, then we had to decide either to pull the other contract, informing the old buyers that we had new buyers or inform the new party that there was still a contract with the old buyers. So we withdrew the contract, but sent a letter saying should it fall through, we will let you know, and in the meantime if your funds come through let us know. My soliceter who is fantastic, told me he could lose his license if we didnt do the above, so you have a case.
However, I do think it was too slow of you not to instruct soliceters untill you had your mortgage offer, this really delays everything and as a vendor, I wouldnt be happy with this, and this is probebley why you lost the sale to be honest, not saying what they did was right. If incurring expense was your concern, you could have opted for a no sale no fee convyencer.

tony58_3

thank you guys for the great response, i managed to speak to the vendor last night, i was going to threaten him with the a lawsuit, which i most certainly will do at some point, because i have spoken to my solicitor and she says they are not allowed to do what they have done, and the most stupidist things is that since friday, the day vendor solicitor emailed my solicitor to say they have exchanged contracts with other buyer, she has tried to cntact them several times through phone calls and emails but they just simply ignoring her.

anyway speaking to the vendor, he's told me that he;s given new buyer 10 days to complete, so clutton you are right, and he said to me that he wouldnt be surprised that they wont complete in 10 days, because this very same buyer was going to buy the house, before i came along. so he is aware of their situation. and he has taken a £20k deposit off them.

i got a feeling he has done this knowing i am near completion and knows they wont complete in 10 days, and after the 10 days are over he will come back straight to me and i will complete straight away and he will get to keep their deposit!!!

in my eyes he is a nasty peace of work. and this is the feeling my solicitor has too.

pawpurrs

If he has exchanged contracts, then he must have finance in place, surely he wouldnt have exchanged without it?

lincroft1710

If "he's a nasty piece of work" then he doesn't seem the sort of person to buy a house from. If you can't trust him, don't do business with him.

tony58_3

Just to keep you guys updated, i got some legal advice, and have been told i have a valid case, and also rang law society they said the same, and advised me to write to the SRA.