Warning - do not use wolstenholmes solicitors

mjmal51

bear.1973 wrote: »

Hello,

Really fed up now, have just spent a good 40 mins typing out a post for help, and it didnt send for whatever reason, also wiped off the post,,ARRRGGG.

So gonna keep it short, any help greatly appreciated.
Is it best to let morgtate lender appoint their solicitor, (recieved list of charges, which i previously typed out) or use a local solicitor?

Briefly then. I purchased house oct 09 using WH, they havent registered me a legal owner on LR. New sol wants to request files and finsh off work.

Would i be better off requestign the files to myself and going into a solicitors office or just letting mortgage lenders sol deal with it?

I dont want to be hit with another bill that could possibly be avoided. Or could it be substancially less, if i carry some of the work out myself, i.e, request files etc.

Please advise if poss.
am fed up with it all! : (

Not sure if I understand what you mean by using the solicitor of the mortgage lender? I was not aware they would be involved. It is up to you (and me) to get the property registered. For me I decided it was best to let the new local solicitor request the files and then deal with post completion work, after all you presumably don't know yet if all the paperwork is there. A job for the legal guy in my opinion. Also would you not feel more comfortable dealing with a local, whose office you can pop into at any time rather than solicitors employed by the mortgage lender?
For those of us in this situation we will be hit with further bills and then we hope to claim back from SRA/LCS. It is stressful but we just have to go with it unfortunately.

Horrified_Solicitor

bear.1973 wrote: »

Hello,

Really fed up now, have just spent a good 40 mins typing out a post for help, and it didnt send for whatever reason, also wiped off the post,,ARRRGGG.

So gonna keep it short, any help greatly appreciated.
Is it best to let morgtate lender appoint their solicitor, (recieved list of charges, which i previously typed out) or use a local solicitor?

Briefly then. I purchased house oct 09 using WH, they havent registered me a legal owner on LR. New sol wants to request files and finsh off work.

Would i be better off requestign the files to myself and going into a solicitors office or just letting mortgage lenders sol deal with it?

I dont want to be hit with another bill that could possibly be avoided. Or could it be substancially less, if i carry some of the work out myself, i.e, request files etc.

Please advise if poss.
am fed up with it all! : (

The lender's solicitor will only be interested in registering the title and the new mortgage, wheras the local solicitor will do this AND be able to help you with the claim for compensation.

cottager

Brahan_seer wrote: »

If the LCS makes an award against Wolstenholmes and neither they nor their insurers pay out what would be the prospect of suing the SRA for failing to regulate Wolstenholmes properly bearing in mind that the SRA had alread visited them once without closing them down? Any thoughts from Horrified Solicitor or any other solicitors following this thread?

Not a solicitor, nor have I been involved with the WH debacle -- just a concerned/interested observer of this thread.

I came across a piece of 2008 consumer protection legislation which covers misleading and banned practices, and will:
... put a stop to aggressive selling techniques and misinforming and misleading people about products or services.

The Regulations introduce a general duty not to trade unfairly and seek to ensure that traders act honestly and fairly towards their customers. They apply primarily to business to consumer practices (but elements of business to business practices are also covered where they affect, or are likely to affect, consumers).
The vast majority of UK businesses are fair dealing and should not have needed to change their business practices to comply with the Regulations, which aim to tackle those businesses.

'Unfair' means if the practices 'cause the consumer to make different decisions'.

Now, I have no idea at all if these regs include anything like a legal practice or the sorts of activities they would be involved in, as it doesn't mention such firms specifically, but they do cover 'commercial practices' which are defined as:
... any act, omission, course of conduct, representation or commercial communication (including advertising and marketing), by a trader, which is directly connected with the promotion, sale or supply of a productto or from consumers, whether occurring before, during or after a commercial transaction (if any) in relation to a product.

A 'trader' is defined in the guidance as:

... any person who in relation to a commercial practice is acting for purposes relating to his business, and anyone acting in the name of or on behalf of a trader. ... This includes companies. It could also include individuals who regularly sell goods from their homes on the internet using auction websites. The assessment of whether or not the individual is acting as a trader will depend on whether or not the relevant activity is done in the course of business.

And a 'product' is defined as:
... 'any goods or service' and includes immovable property, rights and obligations.

It will take a far better brain and knowledge than mine (from someone like a solicitor!) to give a view on this after looking at the guidance and examples (many examples are provided in the guidance, but none really equate to a 'professional firm' such as a solicitor, accountant etc). It could be that the regs are aimed mainly at retail companies, activities and sales -- but I just wondered if there is anything in here which could apply to the WH situation? To WH themselves I mean, not the SRA or LCS.

If the view is 'possibly', then it seems the OFT would be the responsible body to report them to under the CPRs.

If you don’t comply with these regulations, your company may well be investigated by your local authority’s trading standards service and other bodies. These lengthy investigations could take up a lot of your business time and you could also be prosecuted and fined. You could also lose your customers.

In the case of WH there could also be the element of 'too late' as the horse has already bolted and they are no longer trading (unless now trading under another guise, as some have suggested).

As I say, there may be nothing whatever relevant or helpful to the WH circumstances, but it seemed interesting enough for others to at least have a look at, to judge for themselves.

OFT introductory page:
http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/small_businesses/competing/protection

Guidance on the CPR Regulations:
http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/cpregs/oft1008.pdf
A lengthy document of 88 pages, but an interesting read with many examples.

A Basic Guide for Business:
http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/cpregs/oft979.pdf

boxer691

I havnt read the whole story but it appears that you like me are just seeking justice and allowing people to know that they will get shafted. Just a question, do you get insulted by some who use this site, like I do?

anotherproblem

bear.1973 wrote: »

Hello,

Really fed up now, have just spent a good 40 mins typing out a post for help, and it didnt send for whatever reason, also wiped off the post,,ARRRGGG.

So gonna keep it short, any help greatly appreciated.
Is it best to let morgtate lender appoint their solicitor, (recieved list of charges, which i previously typed out) or use a local solicitor?

Briefly then. I purchased house oct 09 using WH, they havent registered me a legal owner on LR. New sol wants to request files and finsh off work.

Would i be better off requestign the files to myself and going into a solicitors office or just letting mortgage lenders sol deal with it?

I dont want to be hit with another bill that could possibly be avoided. Or could it be substancially less, if i carry some of the work out myself, i.e, request files etc.

Please advise if poss.
am fed up with it all! : (

Hi if you mean files that are held by DWF, Stirling law, or one of the other firms that have been involved. Personally I would fill in the paper work so that you can have the files released and then hand it to a local solicitor to finalise. The reason I say this is because if your files include important documants the internal postage systems used by Solicitors is safer than using other forms of postage. Also - I think there is a quicker response.

We are all in the same boat and are being told we can claim for a soliciter to complete the work.

Horrified_Solicitor

cottager wrote: »

Not a solicitor, nor have I been involved with the WH debacle -- just a concerned/interested observer of this thread.

I came across a piece of 2008 consumer protection legislation which covers misleading and banned practices, and will:
... put a stop to aggressive selling techniques and misinforming and misleading people about products or services.



'Unfair' means if the practices 'cause the consumer to make different decisions'.

Now, I have no idea at all if these regs include anything like a legal practice or the sorts of activities they would be involved in, as it doesn't mention such firms specifically, but they do cover 'commercial practices' which are defined as:
... any act, omission, course of conduct, representation or commercial communication (including advertising and marketing), by a trader, which is directly connected with the promotion, sale or supply of a productto or from consumers, whether occurring before, during or after a commercial transaction (if any) in relation to a product.

A 'trader' is defined in the guidance as:

... any person who in relation to a commercial practice is acting for purposes relating to his business, and anyone acting in the name of or on behalf of a trader. ... This includes companies. It could also include individuals who regularly sell goods from their homes on the internet using auction websites. The assessment of whether or not the individual is acting as a trader will depend on whether or not the relevant activity is done in the course of business.

And a 'product' is defined as:
... 'any goods or service' and includes immovable property, rights and obligations.

It will take a far better brain and knowledge than mine (from someone like a solicitor!) to give a view on this after looking at the guidance and examples (many examples are provided in the guidance, but none really equate to a 'professional firm' such as a solicitor, accountant etc). It could be that the regs are aimed mainly at retail companies, activities and sales -- but I just wondered if there is anything in here which could apply to the WH situation? To WH themselves I mean, not the SRA or LCS.

If the view is 'possibly', then it seems the OFT would be the responsible body to report them to under the CPRs.

In the case of WH there could also be the element of 'too late' as the horse has already bolted and they are no longer trading (unless now trading under another guise, as some have suggested).

As I say, there may be nothing whatever relevant or helpful to the WH circumstances, but it seemed interesting enough for others to at least have a look at, to judge for themselves.

OFT introductory page:
http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/small_businesses/competing/protection

Guidance on the CPR Regulations:
http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/cpregs/oft1008.pdf
A lengthy document of 88 pages, but an interesting read with many examples.

A Basic Guide for Business:

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/cpregs/oft979.pdf

Misleading advertisement regulations do cover solicitors and legal services. However, the things Wolstenholmes are suspected of rank a lot worse.

cottager

Horrified_Solicitor wrote: »

Misleading advertisement regulations do cover solicitors and legal services. However, the things Wolstenholmes are suspected of rank a lot worse.

Thanks, and of course I appreciate this -- far worse. I was only thinking in terms of another possible (additional) hook to hang something on.

bear.1973

Ok, i have calmed down a bit now, so will try and explain my circumstances a bit better.
I have recieved letter from DWF confirming that they have my file, and they have sent me a letter to request i release the file.
I have also recieved a letter from my mortgage lender, nationwide who have appointed a solicitor to finalise the completion of the property, as am not regisitered as legal owner (even though WH where paid in full to complete the purchase inc LR fee). However, i have the option of finding my own solicitor, i dont have to use the one offered by nationwide, it is just their recommendation.
So, do i instruct nationwide to go ahead and use their solicitor, for which i would need to instruct DWF to release the file to them, OR do i instruct DWF to release the file to my home address (is this possible? or does it have to be a solicitor address) and then take the file to a local solicitor who i can sit in front of and check what is in the file etc.??
Can anyone give me some advice on the best option.
many thanks

Catwoman8950

bear.1973 wrote: »

Ok, i have calmed down a bit now, so will try and explain my circumstances a bit better.
I have recieved letter from DWF confirming that they have my file, and they have sent me a letter to request i release the file.
I have also recieved a letter from my mortgage lender, nationwide who have appointed a solicitor to finalise the completion of the property, as am not regisitered as legal owner (even though WH where paid in full to complete the purchase inc LR fee). However, i have the option of finding my own solicitor, i dont have to use the one offered by nationwide, it is just their recommendation.
So, do i instruct nationwide to go ahead and use their solicitor, for which i would need to instruct DWF to release the file to them, OR do i instruct DWF to release the file to my home address (is this possible? or does it have to be a solicitor address) and then take the file to a local solicitor who i can sit in front of and check what is in the file etc.??
Can anyone give me some advice on the best option.
many thanks

There are several ways you can do this. Either take the solicitor recommended by Nationwide or get a local one of your own choosing (best option according to most people on this forum, especially as you will need to make a claim to the SRA for monies paid to WH which have been misappropriated). You will then have to tell DWF to send the file to whichever solicitor. Alternatively, you can ask DWF to send the file to your home, or if you are in the Manchester area, you can collect the file in person, as I did. DWF are not obliged to send your file to another solicitor if you don't want them to and you are within your rights to claim it back yourself, after all it is your file. The advantage of having the file sent to you is that you can examine it yourself before you take it to another solicitor. One thing DWF will ask for before they release your file is ID, usually a certified passport or drivers licence and proof of residence (bank statement or utility bill), but I guess it specifies that in the letter they sent you.

However, I did notice the following paragraph in the letter I received from DWF:

"In the event that the intervened firm was acting on your behalf on a property transaction, it is possible that you will need authority from your mortgate provider to release the file of papers to your nominated solicitors. Accordingly if this is the case, we suggest you liaise with your lender with a view to identifying a common despatch destination for your file and documents".

This would seem to imply that your mortgage provider has some say in matters. Nevertheless, I think most people would advise you to instruct a solicitor of your own choosing and get your file sent there. Any extra fees this new solicitor will charge you for completing the work can be claimed for.

mjmal51

bear.1973 wrote: »

So, do i instruct nationwide to go ahead and use their solicitor, for which i would need to instruct DWF to release the file to them, OR do i instruct DWF to release the file to my home address (is this possible? or does it have to be a solicitor address) and then take the file to a local solicitor who i can sit in front of and check what is in the file etc.??
Can anyone give me some advice on the best option.
many thanks

Already recommended using a local solicitor but it is down to you. Whichever way you go DWF require authorised certification before passing on the file. By using a local all I had to do was to take the necessary ID to him which he photocopied and authorised before sending the request to DWF, made life a bit easier.