Solicitors mistake

mando_2

Our house sale completed on Monday, we have sold the house and we have moved in to rented.

The next day we travelled to the solicitors to pick up the cheque for the equity we had in the house. On opening the cheque to put in the bank, I had a heart stopping moment, as there was nearly £4000 less than I expected. I went back to the solicitors and spoke to the secretary. At first, you could tell she didn't believe me and thought I was just trying it on. I didn't have the paperwork on me to show them the redemption figure I had for the mortgage, which I knew was nearly £4000 less than they had listed on the itemised bill. Once they looked into the problem and had checked the redemption figures, they realised they had made a mistake. The Building Society had listed the amount and then listed the amounts to take off, however the solicitors had just paid the top amount and so the Building Society had received the extra money to pay off the mortgage. The lady I was dealing with said they would contact the Building Society and tell them of the mistake and the Building Society would then send a cheque to me with the refund.

Since then, the more I have thought about it the more it has angered me. How can the solicitors make such a huge mistake, which could have potentially left me out of pocket. I now think I should be compensated for the mistake and receive a refund of some of the money I have paid them for their services. The mistake has caused extra stress (I have just spent a week in hospital having a baby, who had medical problems and I am also on medication for a raised blood pressure from labour), the mistake shouldn't have happened (I knew the redemption amount from the letter the Building Society had sent me) and I'm losing interest on the money as it will take longer to get to me and be cashed.

I'm writing to the solicitors to check they have contacted the Building Society and for compensation. How much do you think I should ask for, or should I not ask for an amount and leave it up to them to offer an amount?

dauphin

I'm afraid I think you are making a mountain out of a molehill and if you are really suffering from stress and high blood pressure, then the best advice I can give you is to take a deep breath, realise that this is a pretty minor hitch which will cause you no significant loss, and stop winding yourself up by firing off indignant letters and posts about it.

Your actual loss is the extra interest you would have earned on the £4000 until it is repaid by the Building Society - at most that will amount to under £5 a week, and that is before tax. Probably you will have the money back within a week anyway and quite possibly the Building Society will add some interest to it. If not, by all means ask the solicitors to make good any loss of interest.

There is no cause to be stressed as it was very quickly discovered what had happened and from there on you knew that the £4000 was not lost; merely that you would have to wait a few extra days for the money - which you were only going to deposit in the bank anyway. It is not as if the £4000 went off into outer space - it was mistakenly paid to a Building Society so you can be sure that you will get it back.

Honestly, I know it's irritating when mistakes happen, but this one is not worth getting into a stew about.

Julieboo

Sorry but I agree with Mando she has every right to be angry. Solicitors do not come cheap and whilst not much can be under a clients control when it comes to moving/selling, the one thing you do rely on is for the solicitor to do their job correctly. I would ask for compensation after all £4000 missing from your account is not a minor thing, lots of people trust solicitors so much that they often would have presumed there 'sums' must be right and would not question. I myself would not pay full whack for a second rate service.

Good luck Mando

silvercar

If you had been completing on a sale at the same time, your solicitor would have given you a balancing figure and you would immediately have spotted the error. I am surprised you didn't get a summary account from the solicitor before completion. Nevertheless the solicitor has made an error that he should put right. As for compensation, a bunch of flowers or a £25 cheque is probably all you will get.

Bossyboots

I agree with the OP as well in principle. This is a serious error on the part of the solicitors and to be honest, I would be asking them to pay back the £4000 IMMEDIATELY out of their own pockets and for them to recover the overpayment they have made from the mortgagee themselves.

The solicitors are definitely liable for your lost interest. You need to write to them informing them that you will be looking to them to pay this and asking that they also return a portion of your fees as you have not received the level of service you paid for.

I think you need to calm down. You are rightly annoyed, but you can deal with this calmly and methodically so that your health is not compromised. Your letter to them needs to be firm and set out clearly what you expect. That will be hard to do if you allow yourself to be wound up. You have vented here so now take a deep breath and compose a letter. Post it here if you want someone to critique it for you.

Debt_Free_Chick

Dauphin offers very wise and practical advice.

Reading your message, it's not clear if the mistake was made by the Building Society or the Solicitor ... You say that the BS are to send another cheque, which sounds as though it's their mistake

Either way, you should have little trouble in getting the interest on the unpaid amount, so try not to worry. Of course, if you don't get the interest, then we can help you with a suitable letter.

Start off politely stating the situation and why you have lost out. If that doesn't work, then follow the relevant complaints procedure (depending on who is at fault). Most organisations respond far better to those who politely, but firmly, put their case ... rather than those who "go off on one" without allowing the opportunity for the faulty party to put things right.

This may well be easily resolved, without you having to "up the ante".

Kind regards

Bossyboots

The OP states that the solicitor has used the starting figure on the redemption statement instead of the final figure so I don't see how it can be anyone's fault but the solicitor's.

Debt_Free_Chick

Bossyboots wrote:

I agree with the OP as well in principle. This is a serious error on the part of the solicitors and to be honest, I would be asking them to pay back the £4000 IMMEDIATELY out of their own pockets and for them to recover the overpayment they have made from the mortgagee themselves.

I have limited experience here, but any redemption statement I've seen has a huge caveat ... stating that it shows the position at a specific date and is subject to change i.e. to take account of interest added and payments deducted after that date.

Really ... solicitors cannot be expected to know what the redemption figure is. Surely, the accuracy of that figure is only down to the BS?

I note that it's the BS that are due to send a further amount, so the solicitor doesn't have the OP's money.

Have I misunderstood?

Debt_Free_Chick

Perhaps Mando can confirm the date of the redemption statement and the date of completion?

silvercar

The building societies can send very complex redemption statements, full of "if"s and dates etc. it is difficult to say who is responsible for the error but at least you know your money is safe.

I emailed my solicitor a few days before with my expected redemption figure, so we all knew where we were.

mando_2

Thanks for all your replies. I didn't realise that I had come across so angry. Yes it has upset me, more so at the time as I thought I had lost 4 grand, I have calmed down since then but it still upsets me that the solictors can make such a huge mistake when I have paid them so much money to deal with this matter. What upsets me more is that the house selling is still ongoing, when I thought it would be all done and dusted with on Monday, but now it's still ongoing until I get the 4 grand back.

It's the solictors mistake.

I have also got a copy of the redemption letter. It's dated for the 4th September (completion date). The lady at the solictors, reckons that their copy of the redemption letter states the £XXXX amount and then lists some amounts to be taken off, which would have given them £YYYY. But the solictors didn't take the amounts off and sent the building society £XXXX instead of £YYYY. So they then said that because they have overpaid the building society, the building society owe me the money back and that they will contact them to explain and the building society will send me a cheque for the overpaid amount.

Hope this explains it better.