2nd Charge on a Property

missk_ensington

Thank God for that I thought you were gonna say about £10,000! Well they owe you £7.50 which is 1 months interest.

I had similar situation, my solicitor downloaded the £84,000 mortgage money, with the intention of completing the following day, completion didn't happen and he had this sum in this client account for a whole week earning him £72.69. He then had the audacity to bill me a month later for a Mining Search!

You really need to seek proper legal advice, are there any solicitors who have a free drop in evening?

missk_ensington

Just been on the phone to my soicitor and he says that your solicitor has a legal obligation to check searches again before completion. As you exchanged in July and the charge was placed in June, your solicitor is negligent in not checking these details before completion.

I have also been told that you should contact the law society as they need to know, but your first call should be to the Community Legal Service on 0845 608 1122

Hope this helps you x

goldiewil

thanks a lot MissK_ensington, i'll make the call and let you know what the outcome is

missk_ensington

Think you need to mention the 'Enquiries before Contract' form which ther Vendor filled in, and may have lied on it.

We got someone for £4,000 last year for Mis-rep who had lied on this form.

Bossyboots

Now the dates have been confirmed, I agree with missk_ensington that the onus appears to be on the OP's solicitor. Another search should have been done prior to exchange as that is a large gap from searching to exchange and anything could happen in that time, particularly if they did not do a search with priority or, as I suspect, the priority expired before exchange occurred and therefore they were not notified of the attempt to register another charge against the property.

Bossyboots

missk_ensington wrote:

Just been on the phone to my soicitor and he says that your solicitor has a legal obligation to check searches again before completion. As you exchanged in July and the charge was placed in June, your solicitor is negligent in not checking these details before completion.

I have also been told that you should contact the law society as they need to know, but your first call should be to the Community Legal Service on 0845 608 1122

Hope this helps you x

Actually the first call is to the partner responsible for the solicitor with conduct of this matter or the complaints partner in the company. It can only be escalated to the Law Society once the company's own procedures have been exhausted. The firm have to be given the chance to put things right and make reparation. Not sure what help the Community Legal Service can be in this situation. There is a clearly written procedure that all solicitors' firms have to follow in relation to complaints including those of neligence. If the OP makes them aware that she is intending to pursue a negligence claim then they have to report it to their insurers. This alone should be an incentive to clear the matter up as any report to the insurers will put their premiums up next year.

The priority at the moment has to be completion or withdrawal with recovery of losses after that as until the situation is resolved one way or another, those losses are not quantifiable.

missk_ensington

OP solicitor is supposed to write to Vendors solicitor between exchange and completion asking if anything has changed since searches.

My personal view is that vendor has tried to get rid of property before second charge came on, in which case that is Mis Rep.

Bossyboots

missk_ensington wrote:

OP solicitor is supposed to write to Vendors solicitor between exchange and completion asking if anything has changed since searches.

My personal view is that vendor has tried to get rid of property before second charge came on, in which case that is Mis Rep.

Yes I agree, I think that is exactly what has happened. No doubt had things moved as fast as they could have done cmpletion would have occurred before registration and the creditors would have been stuck.

It is a foolish solicitor who relies solely on the word of the seller that nothing has changed. However, in this case the charge was on the title before exchange, not between exchange and completion so it should have been picked up sooner. In reality this second charge would not be a problem if the seller had sufficient equity to pay it off as it would simply be discharged on completion. The sticking point has arisen because it looks like it won't be paid off and consequently completion cannot happen.

missk_ensington

However, I think in a court of law the other side would say to the OP 'Well you knew about the first charge but still agreed to go ahead, the fact a second charge was applied is irrelevent, as you would still most probably be in this situation had a second charge not been placed, but purely on the basis of the first charge'

However if the equity in the property would cover charge 1 you could argue this.

Debt_Free_Chick

missk_ensington wrote:

My personal view is that vendor has tried to get rid of property before second charge came on, in which case that is Mis Rep.

So you don't now think that the OP's solicitor is negligent?