Solicitors Interest??

spud2212

Hi,

I've just completed on a flat/apartment today but was supposed to complete on jan 22nd so the solicitor had had £43000 of my cash since then as its a cash sale. Am i entitled to get money back off him for the interest they have made on my money??

G_M

Have a look at the Agreemenmt you signed with the solicitor. it prob says something about holding money in a client account and paying interest at.....

chewmylegoff

spud2212 wrote: »

Hi,

I've just completed on a flat/apartment today but was supposed to complete on jan 22nd so the solicitor had had £43000 of my cash since then as its a cash sale. Am i entitled to get money back off him for the interest they have made on my money??

http://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/code-of-conduct/accounts-rules/part-c-accounts-rules.page#p-c
solicitors rules on client interest.

(i) it may be that in the current climate that the solicitor is earning very little or even no interest on their client account.

(ii) whilst you may have contracted out of these rules by signing a contract that no interest is due, and this may have been reasonable given that completion was expected on 22 jan, you might be able to reasonably argue that the opt out became unreasonable because the money was held for a much longer time than was reasonable. worth a punt anyway.

finally, had you exchanged contracts prior to the completion failure? if so, does the contract contain a penalty clause requiring the vendor to pay you interest?

timmyt

email them and ask. Not that interest is very high in client accounts...often virtually nil nowadays, with the base rate being virtually nil

spud2212

no we exchanged contracts today, and completed today.Im looking through all my paperwork but cant find anything about money and them holding onto it i think i might email or phone them later thanks

sillyvixen

when i bought - i was supprised to recieve a cheque a month later for interest on held deposit funds - however i had a delay and it was in a better climate!