Being misled by conveyancer

loulou41

I completed on my house few months ago. There is an additional small piece of land in the back garden which is not registered. Previous sellers have lived there for 3 yrs and signed a statement of truth. The conveyancer told me the land registry's fee to lodge this application and registration is £50 which I paid in November. I just found out that it has never been lodged and the conveyancer said he was going to lodge it again that was on the 1st April and would get back to me when he heard from LR. He is not answering my email or phone call when I asked him the date he lodged the application. As a last resort I emailed CS at land registry and was informed no such application for possessory title has been made. An adverse possession was rejected in October 2009 as there was no declaration for 12 yrs of occupancy. Previous sellers lived there for only three years. Why the conveyancer did not tell me that and led me to believe that after paying £50 to LR, I will be granted possessory title? I am very crossed as I have given wrong information, I would have thought the conveyancer should have known about legal requirement for advere possession. He is not answering my email or return my calls. I just wonder what my options are, I intend to make a formal complaint but do not know who to address the letter to. I will also ask what happend to the £50 cheque I paid him. I thought I would post so that people are aware not to put their complete trust in their conveyancer. Thanks

CloudCuckooLand

Was it a local firm, national or internet/phone based ?

loulou41

It was a local solicitor's firm with a good reputation.

CloudCuckooLand

You should give the firm (not the person, who may be "letting the side down") the chance to correct the mistake, or explain why it is not a mistake, as the case may be.

In writing, so you can refer to the Law Society if it needs to go beyond the firm in due course.

Check their website, or the paperwork they presented when offering their services, for contact/partner names, complaints process, etc.

loulou41

Thanks, I intend to drop by the office on friday and give him the opportunity to explain & why he is misleading me?

clutton_2

you need to find out which Senior Partner is responsible for dealing wiht complaints, and write to him/her personally... ring up and ask

you cannot complain to a higher body until you have gone throught the Solicitors full complaints process....

then write explaining what happened in as short and clear a letter as you can, making sure you explain that you paid £50 for no reason and you want a refund.... if that is what you want..

you need to do it all in writing otherwise you will have no evidence if you need to make a formal complain against the Firm

Maybe you are confusing the Stamp Duty Land TAx Form which many solicitors charge £50 for completing for you ?

good luck

Doozergirl

What clutton said. There is little point conversing with this solicitor now and you need to follow the complaints procedure - there will be one for the firm you are dealing with.

If you don't get the answer you want then I suspect you will have to go to the Law Society. Check all of your paperwork for any reference to this rejected claim for AP or PT. If you genuinely weren't told that you couldn't claim it - they're in trouble.

loulou41

I just got a reply to my email. He is not the solicitor, I think he is the conveyancer or a clerk as he was the one who went through all the documents on exchange. He told me he had not sent the form off as he is 1 wk behind his admin work. These sorts of forms are usually dealt with by completion department and they have sent my file back to him and he offered to see this through foro me. He is not used to fill them and needs more time but will see to it in the next couple of days. I am really surprised as I already know from LR customer service that the application for adverse possession was rejected in October 2009 on the ground that there was no declarations of 12 yrs continuous occupancy. He told me LR wanted £50 to lodge an application for possessory title with the statement of truth (from preious owners). There was no moention of rejection, I did not say anything to him and just wait to see what application he is sending off to LR. He said he will let me know when it is done. You would have thought he should know about the legal requirements. The office has a solicitor but he is not dealing with the case, the other person must be the conveyancer or just a clerk and then they have a completion department. I am just waiting what he will come up with and what application he is sending off. I have got the correspondence by emails as proof that I was given the understanding that I could lodge an application for possessory title with the previous owners statement of truth. I do not know who to believe now and who is right. I guess it does not really matter as nobody is going to claim that small piece of unregistered land even if they do it will be useless but I do not like being misled. Thanks