Our solicitor has our mortgage money and is in prison on remand. What do we do?

Joe_Bloggs

It appears that there is a spin-off body from the Law Society that regulates and fixes solicitor problems. http://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/consumers.page
The Solicitors Regulation Authority may be of some use. There may be issues with frozen accounts that relate to the solicitor. I am sure that CAB advisers can be of assistance. Was a deposit placed with the conveyancing solicitor ?
J_B.

zzzLazyDaisy

The money is not your responsibility. The solicitor was acting on behalf of the lender, and it remains the lender's money until the purchase is completed, and the funds are handed over to the seller. Until then, it is not 'your' money.

Until the money is paid to the council, you don't own the property, so there is no question of you paying the mortgage.

You should make sure that the lender is aware of the situation. You also need to inform your seller (the council). This is an unusual set of circumstances and although there will be some delay in completing the purchase, the seller and lender will normally cooperate to see this through.

Also, speak to the Law Society. This sort of thing happens from time to time, and the Law Society allocates the solicitor's files to other solicitors' practices in the area. You need to know which solicitor is going to be taking over your file.

tbs624

In circumstances such as these the Law Society/SRA will have already been notified by the time a solicitor has been formally charged.

You need to get a new solicitor to act on your behalf for the balance of the transaction. What will happen is that the SRA will appoint an Intervention Agent to sort out immediate client finances etc - the IA cannot act for you, but will arrange for all papers to be forwarded to whichever new solicitor you engage.

Use the link Joe Bloggs gave you to follow things up, but speak to your Lender (ask for a supervisor), the Council and get the new solicitor in place as a matter of urgency.

GDB2222

Lee64 wrote: »

Thank you for your reply. It is a sole practice due to the fact that the person he is charged with murdering was his business partner, another solicitor.

The law society compensation scheme is different for sole practicioners and partnerships, so it's important to know whether the partner was alive when you signed up with your solicitor. 15 Jan seems to be the date of death.

Lee64

Thank you to all of you for the information you have given so far. Can I ask if anyone knows who is responsible for mortgage funds once they are transferred from the lender to the solicitor?

tbs624

Lee64 wrote: »

Thank you to all of you for the information you have given so far. Can I ask if anyone knows who is responsible for mortgage funds once they are transferred from the lender to the solicitor?

The solicitor has to abide by the SARs (Solicitors Accounts Rules). You will probably find that your mortgage funds are safely in a designated client account and then, as I said in my previous post, this will be sorted out via the Intervention Agent.

As several of us have said, you do need to speak directly to your Lender (also ensure that you back up your phone conversations with a letter confirming your understanding of what has been said.)

Debt_Free_Chick

Lee

Have you called the solicitor's office? Or are you just going on press reports.

I'd be inclined to make a quick call on Monday to see what they say .....

Lee64

We have spoken to Lender. They weren't really sure about what we should do as not all staff are in on Saturdays. Will be speaking some more on Monday. The solicitors office just gives an ansaphone message.

Floxxie

Two in court on murder charge

Friday, July 03, 2009, 10:45
Two men have appeared in court accused of murdering a solicitor.
Brian Farrell, (34), of Queensborough Terrace, Bayswater, London, and John Cort, (54), of Rutland Street, Leicester, are jointly charged with murdering Vina Patel at Cort Solicitors, in Blackbird Road, Leicester, on January 15 this year.
The men appeared at Leicester Magistrates' Court this morning.
They were remanded in custody and will appear at Leicester Crown Court later in the year.

Floxxie

Lee,

You have to speak to your lender and inform them of the situation. They may advise you on what to do or may have internal procedures of what they do in these circumstances.

The solicitors will not be open as it is John Cort who has been arrested.