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Solicitor's fees - mistake in figure quoted in section 42 notice

I have recently bought a flat with a 76 year lease and prior to completion arranged for the vendor to serve a s.42 notice on the freeholder, so that a lease extension could be set in motion. As advised by my solicitor, I paid for an independent valuation to be carried out on the property for leasehold extension purposes. His report was sent both to myself and my solicitor. However, when the solicitor drew up the documents for the s.42 notice he inserted the actual value proposed by the surveyor, instead of the (lower) figure that was suggested by the surveyor as an initial figure to be inserted in the notice. Consequently, we lost any bargaining power with the freeholder. This only came to my attention when the freeholder requested his 10% deposit - the figure was was 10% of higher figure. The counternotice was served with a figure that is £2000 higher than the figure inserted in the notice i.e greater than our surveyor's value. I have accepted this figure, as the surveyor has advised that if we negotiate, any decrease in the price achieved for the new lease will probably be minimal and most of this will be accounted for by the professional fees incurred during negotiations with both sides i.e solicitors and surveyor's fees.
My question is should the solicitor be held responsible for the difference in figures? He has admitted that he made a mistake and has to date paid the balance between the lower and higher deposit amounts. I of course have no way of knowing whether the freeholder would have responded with a lower figure in his counternotice had he been serviced with a lower figure in the s.42 notice. Any suggestions as to how to proceed would be welcomed.

Comments

  • apuleius
    apuleius Posts: 95 Forumite
    anyone? Richard Webster?
  • Fire_Fox
    Fire_Fox Posts: 26,026 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Has the solicitor offered anything by way of recompense?
    Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️
  • apuleius
    apuleius Posts: 95 Forumite
    The solicitor has paid the difference in the 10% deposit i.e the several hundred between what should have been the initial offer price and the actual valuation that was written in.
  • Fire_Fox
    Fire_Fox Posts: 26,026 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    What more do you want?
    Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️
  • apuleius
    apuleius Posts: 95 Forumite
    I feel that we have overpaid for the lease extension due to this error - to the tune of £2000. I have no way of proving this but feel we should split the difference..
  • Fire_Fox
    Fire_Fox Posts: 26,026 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    And have you asked for that?
    Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️
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