Solicitors professional liability

abmaybe

We are in the final stage of house moving and our buyer's solicitor has missed the desired exchange date so we do not know for sure which school our children will attend next week. Our buyer's solicitor has faxed a letter saying the earliest day they can exchange is Sept 3rd (one day prior to completion). Our buyer's are self employed shop keepers and even at this late stage are being asked by the lender to provide passport information and bank statements. What worries me is not the buyers pulling out but there being some further delay with the lender. If the solicitor says the earliest they CAN exchange is a certain data, but on that date the lender still has a problem, would the solicitor be guilty of professional negligence?

Hailstorm

From what you have described the delay is either due to the lender or your buyers themselves. Lenders take as long as they need to make a decision and if your buyers are not providing the information required then responsibility has to lie with them. Both of these are ultimately outside of their solicitor's control so no.

silvercar

Exchanging one day before completion safeguards their position if the lender pulls the mortgage at the last minute. Their solicitor won't actually be agreeing to exchange until he has the mortgage funds as drawdown often occurs the day before.

Solicitor is acting sensibly not being negligent. How you sort out schools is a difficult one. Do you have a school place lined up in the new area? If it is possible to commute to the new school I would be inclined to take that school place to avoid an unnecessary transfer at a later date.

Bob_the_Saver

Solicitors - Professional

Two words I would never use in the same sentence

abmaybe

Basically we have to pack everything this weekend and drive our children 50 miles to a new school on the day our buyer's solicitor says is the earliest they can exchange. I would like to interpret this as a definite date in terms of conveyancing. Surely it would be fraudulent to say you can exchange on a date if the lender still had queries.

silvercar

Never think of a date as definite until you are told exchange actually has happened. By the sound of it your buyer's solicitor does not intend his clients exchanging until they have the mortgage money. This is sensible from his point of view and could prevent anguish on your part if exchange happened but your buyers were unable to complete.

Until exchange occurs, no promises are made.

It looks like you will have to drive to the new school without knowing if you will be moving the next day or possibly the next week. In fact, if your buyer's lenders don't give the mortgage, there is the risk that you won't be moving for a month!

Nothing you can do about this, except perhaps not to start the children at the new school until you have actually exchanged.

docij

I really feel for you. Other people being in control of your life is so difficult. We exchanged yesterday and are moving today. Our buyer's solicitors had been promising we would exchange since last Friday but every day there was another reason not to. It's the most stressful week we've ever had. Glad we'd packed beforehand otherwise last night would have been an all-nighter.

Good luck with getting some certainy back in your life soon.

Richard_Webster

You are reliant on what other people are doing and yet you have set an agenda for exchange and completion that is very difficult to deal with.

I find it very difficult to understand how in some way it is your solicitor's fault that someone else has not yet got their mortgage sorted completely.

chickmug

What a really silly heading on this thread.

Lenders DO ask for further bit and pieces and some are known to ask for these bits right up to the point of the 'hoped for' exchange date. Your buyers are shop keepers and as such lenders don't have wages slips to get hold of as they need accounts which are not often not up to date so this could well be the cause.

BUT it could be the buyers asking their solicitor to go slow.

dirtmother

abmaybe you have my sympathies as we are in the same position except with more miles and maybe even higher stakes as one child requires *very* careful handling due to SEN. 'In before the start of term' may sound an unreasonable agenda to some but we have been upfront with everyone about ours with everyone from the start and it certainly wasn't an unreasonable agenda in the beginning. Frankly a child's start in a new school is not a trivial matter and can have repercussions beyond money, bricks and mortar.

However, we have always understood these things are on a knife edge and that nothing anyone says is guaranteed - an unduly pessimistic approach by eg a solicitor could be just as unhelpful. We'd really like to have someone to blame and certainly some people and organisations could have behaved better but really it is no-one's fault (and that includes not ours - we're not moving for the fun of it)

This is what we are doing in order to cope though:
a) we have decided that we will use a full packing service for the move when it happens
b) we will rent a holiday cottage in the area for the first few weeks of term and have said that we will not complete in the first week of term
c) lots of long breaths out
d) plentiful supply of those "Keep Calm and Carry On" postcards

Good luck!

pie81

abmaybe wrote: »

We are in the final stage of house moving and our buyer's solicitor has missed the desired exchange date so we do not know for sure which school our children will attend next week. Our buyer's solicitor has faxed a letter saying the earliest day they can exchange is Sept 3rd (one day prior to completion). Our buyer's are self employed shop keepers and even at this late stage are being asked by the lender to provide passport information and bank statements. What worries me is not the buyers pulling out but there being some further delay with the lender. If the solicitor says the earliest they CAN exchange is a certain data, but on that date the lender still has a problem, would the solicitor be guilty of professional negligence?

No, and the solicitor is not your solicitor so owes you no duty of care anyway.