Solicitors : How safe is our money

deferred_pensioner

We are just about to complete on our house sale and will have proceeds of circa £450K.

We are purchasing another house but there will be a gap of 3 weeks.

Is it safe to leave my sale proceeds in the solicitors client account.?

I know I could have it paid back into my bank but even there you only get the £50K guarantee each.

I have checked that my solicitor is registered with the Law Society the individual is recognised by them as well .

It’s a reasonable sized firm with 8 LLP members.

Any advice appreciated.

Evilm

Yes the money should be safe in their account. They should have a ring-fenced client money account.

They should do an interest calculation for you for the time they hold the money as well which will mean a little more in the pot too.

timmyt

Evilm wrote: »

Yes the money should be safe in their account. They should have a ring-fenced client money account.

They should do an interest calculation for you for the time they hold the money as well which will mean a little more in the pot too.

client accounts get virtually nil, as lawfirms are not banks, and they can keep the first @£20 anyway, so don't expect interest

G_M

Being ringfenced in a client account means even if the firm goes bust the money is held for the clients, not given to the firm's debtors.

Of course if a rogue solicitor empties the client account and runs off to S America, well the other 7 partners would bale you out..

You're safe. Sleep easy.

PasturesNew

The money is not safe as it is bigger than the "protected amount" if the bank goes under. However, recent history seems to indicate that this wouldn't happen to you.

The money is safe in their account because they're unlikely to be crooks and run off with it.

Personally, for 3 weeks, I'd feel comfortable about risking it within the banking system.

N79

Money is safe from the solicitor stealing it.

Money is vulnerable to the solicitor's bank folding as these days it is impossibly expensive for solicitors to fully insure their client accounts, but obviously this is a very rare occurrence (and would bankrupt the solicitors who would remain liable to repay you but they would probably not have the money).

Personally, I would let the solicitors hold the money for the few weeks - it really should be very low risk!