Solicitor mistake - should we ask for refund of fees?

MascaraMinx

No I am not aware of this as I am a customer not a solicitor

Rachman_2

MascaraMinx wrote:

No I am not aware of this as I am a customer not a solicitor

Right, but presumably you are paying less than say £600 for conveyancing fees, out of this he pays for an office, a secretary, IT, business rates, tax, himself, large professional indemnity insurance fees - how many hours work do you think gets done on conveyancing and how much grief it is. If someone screws up, the most important thing to do is to fix it, chucking around threats to get your money back won't get your problem fixed - we all make mistakes, the issue is how they sort it - I strongly suggest you don't go at them bull in a china shop or even suggest fees refunded at this point - if it's a major screw up that costs you - explain to them that you were happy for them to remedy the mistake at their cost, but that it's actually cost you money - and ask them what they are able to do to sort that out - i.e. invite them to suggest, not you telling them..... - softly, softly, catchee slimey lawyer....

I am a solicitor and I'd have to be practically destitute to be forced to do conveyancing - it's thankless work - what I don't get is why people blame lawyers on conveyancing for fees being high - they see next to sod all of it.

MascaraMinx

Ah but that's a life choice issue for the conveyancer isn't it and not an excuse for making errors? I appreciate the advice though Rachman. I am still peed off that we are facing a delay that would have been unnecessary had the job been done correctly, but I don't think we will bother putting in any kind of complaint.

I just hope we manage not to have to explain what has happened to our buyers/ vendors as I am scared that this could be just one problem too many for our buyer *crosses fingers*

MascaraMinx

Oh, and it's a she...

Bossyboots

I see where you are coming from MascaraMinx and regardless of the paper thin margins in residential conveyancing you are entitled to have the job done properly. Your partner agreed a fee for work done that was not completed. By putting the mistake right they are completing the work paid for, albeit rather late in the day.

Provided all the paperwork is in order, they shouldn't have any trouble getting it transferred quite quickly. If you incur any losses that are directly as a result of this omission then you can claim those back from the solicitors.

Yes it is possible that the ex being on the deeds could have resulted in inconveniences to your partner. She could have attempted to obtain a mortgage but he would have needed to agree to it so she would only have succeeded by committing fraud. However, had she done so your partner would have had the hassle of sorting it out to show that he did not agree a mortgage on the property. There could have been difficulties if she had been made bankrupt or had CCJs on which charging orders were issued.

None of this has happened though. You cannot get compensation for what might have been, but what has happened through someone's negligence. At the moment, apart from a potential delay (and realistically this could be sorted before the parties are ready to proceed anyway) there is no problem. There should be a consent order in place evidencing the transfer and the transfer document itself. The solicitors will have to confirm to the land registry that they neglected to register the property at the proper time but I can't envisage any problems.

whambamboo

MascaraMinx wrote:

Here's the situation; the title deeds to our house should be in my husbands name. He bought the property several years ago with his ex. They split up soon after movig in, and he bought her out of the mortgage. We got our draft contract through the other day for the sale of the house and it shows his ex as still on the title deeds. My OH phoned up our solicitor who confirmed that the land registry was never updated. He then contacted his old solicitors, and they said they would amend this straight away but it will take 7 - 10 days for the update to take place, which adds at least a 2 week delay until our solicitor can draw up the contracts in just his name.

I feel that as my OH paid the solicitors good money for their services, and that this has theoretically added a delay to our current transaction, we should have some sort of recourse against the original solicitor such as a reimbursement of the fees he paid? What do you think?

Have you occasioned any quantifiable loss as a result of his negligence? E.g., needing to pay for rented accommodation, cancelling moving, etc?

If so, sue.

Otherwise don't.

Very simple.

I always sue if someone is negligent.

dkny_2

Hi MAscara,
Totally understand where you are commin from, personally because solictors have admitted error i think its best to let them sort this out, i know 2 weeks seem a very long time esp if the whole process has been a nitemare, its only another 2 weeks i know but atleast you will get this sorted and complete.

At the end of the day the solitors do make mistakes too, and they have been honest and admitted to this.

HTH

MascaraMinx

Thanks guys. I was never after "compensation" as such, I just felt annoyed that fees had been paid when the job hadn't been finished. But having read through what everyone has had to say about it I suppose I'd better just lump it!

Me_Myself_2

Rachman wrote:

What on earth - do you have any idea of the paper thin margins in residential conveyancing ? It's work I should not touch with a bargepole - it's high volume low margin difficult client work - absolutely terrible legal work to be doing.

Hear hear. Res Conveyancing solicitors make VERY little. Most would get out if they could!!!!!!!!!!