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Error in our completion statment
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martinl_2
Posts: 2 Newbie
We moved house a couple of months ago and our solicitors produced the completion statement and paid the estate agent directly.
Last week we got a letter out the blue saying the estate agents were going to pursue us in the courts for non payment of fees!
Today the solicitors have finally admitted that they made a mistake and transferred the wrong amount to the estate agents.
We're now being chased for a large sum of money which we don't have. Do we have any come back against the solicitors as surely we paid them to make sure that mistakes like this don't happen?
All help appreciated.
Last week we got a letter out the blue saying the estate agents were going to pursue us in the courts for non payment of fees!
Today the solicitors have finally admitted that they made a mistake and transferred the wrong amount to the estate agents.
We're now being chased for a large sum of money which we don't have. Do we have any come back against the solicitors as surely we paid them to make sure that mistakes like this don't happen?
All help appreciated.
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Comments
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this is why solicitors have insurance....0
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but is this the question you're trying to ask?
Solicitor made a mistake with completion statement and transferred too much money to me without fully paying the agent, I spent all the money, now do I have to pay the agents fees, which weren't fully paid?
If that is your question, then I would think that the contract is between you and the estate agent, not between them and the solicitor. They don't mind who pays them the money, so long as it's paid.
If however, the money is missing, then I would say the solicitor will have to cover it.0 -
As Badger says: did the solicitor return to you (or otherwise legitimately spend on your behalf elsewhere)the money he should have paid the estate agent?
Or did the solicitor keep it and put it towards the firm's Christmas Do?
If the former, then the debt to the estate agent is yours.
If the latter, chase the solicitor (or at least insist on an invite to their Christmas Do!)0 -
I got my completion statement and spotted the EAs hadn't been paid, I was walking across the car park with my cheque book in my hand when I got a phone call from my solicitors alerting me to the error ... it was my responsibility to pay the EA and I checked the completion statement and immediately went out to pay the bill, even before I was advised it was wrong.
Humans make mistakes, but when we get a bill we roughly know what to expect - and we know what the EA fees are going to be on that bill.
But then I also handed back £5 I was offered at a till in the supermarket this week as I knew she was giving me too much. She'd not even counted it out, I saw the £5 coming my way and knew it wasn't mine so said "Not the £5, I only gave you £20".
Simple maths...0 -
Thanks everyone for your posts.
With regard to the bill from the estate agents we will have to pay that but it's annoying as we adjusted our borrowing based on the completion statement and borrowing the money will be more expensive now.
My question really is - do I have any come back against the solicitors? We paid them (a lot of money) to ensure that that we didn't have any nasty surprises like this.
The solicitors have got their fee and we've been left with the threat of court action from the estate agents which has arisen solely from their mistake. (we knew nothing about this until a snotty letter threatening court action arrived from the estate agents)0 -
The solicitors may have some blame, but surely you knew how much commission you had agreed to pay the estate agents, so if the solicitor's statement showed the wrong figure you should have queried it.
My firm's practice is to include a figure for the estate agent's commission in my statement but only to pay it after the client has agreed the amount. Normally this is because I am concerned that I am not paying the agent more than the client expected. In a case such as yours if you told me that the figure was correct then I would pay it but you could then hardly blame me if it was not enough! that would be your opportunity to look at your agreement with the EA and perhaps say "I don't think they are charging the full amount...."RICHARD WEBSTER
As a retired conveyancing solicitor I believe the information given in the post to be useful assuming any properties concerned are in England/Wales but I accept no liability for it.0 -
Did you receive a draft completion statement before completion? If so why did you not query the figure then?0
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We sold my hubby's flat privately, but it had been up with an EA before that, which the solicitors had known about. When the completion statement came through (by post on the Sat), we checked it and found they'd paid the old EAs! Jeez... over £2k out of our money that we might not have spotted had we not checked it. We thought it was less than we were expecting, it's very hard to know what'll be outstanding exactly once the final mortgage payment has gone out, plus we incurred mortgage penalties, etc and weren't really sure how much to expect. Luckily we spotted it and got it back (fairly) quickly.
Suppose the moral of the story is always check your completion statement! Might be that you still owe someone something which has been forgotten, or it might go in your favour and you find they've overpaid someone, or paid someone who shouldn't have been paid!
Human error, I'm afraid. Yes, the solicitors are responsible for the error, but I'm not sure you have any come back against them.
Jx2024 wins: *must start comping again!*0 -
My question really is - do I have any come back against the solicitors? We paid them (a lot of money) to ensure that that we didn't have any nasty surprises like this.
The solicitors have got their fee and we've been left with the threat of court action from the estate agents which has arisen solely from their mistake. (we knew nothing about this until a snotty letter threatening court action arrived from the estate agents)
Ask (another) solicitor.
In theory, you could sue your conveyancer for professional negligence. You would need the advice of a solicitor that practices civil litigation to know whether you would be likely to successful and recover anything. If you had a strong case, it would be very likely to be settled out of court.
Or if you don't want to got that far, initiate a formal complaint at the firm you instructed for your conveyancing. If you are persistent it's possible they may retrospectively give you part of your fees back.0 -
The best you can hope for out of the solicitor is the extra it is going to cost - not the EA's fees. So if there are court costs or late payment penalties imposed you can get that back off the solicitor but not the money you should have paid out anyway.0
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