Always fight

Always_fight

Can anyone advise?
We made an offer on a house which was accepted by the vendor. We engaged our solicitor to carry out the conveyance and were subsequently called to her office to sign completion papers and with exchange planned for the following week we ensured all monies were in place for transfer to vender. At the completion meeting I spotted a document which showed a planning application made 1 month before marketing the property been refused and asked our solicitor what this was. She said she had not checked.
On further investigation by ourselves it was found the property did not hold permissions for use as a residential property with a pervious application also been refused although the Estate Agents particulars stated "Modernised to a high standard and ready for early occupation" The property has council tax banding and has all utilities as it has been occupied (Obviously illegally for the last 11 years) The vendor completed the Property Information Form answering "No" to the question "Are there any outstanding planning or Building Regulations issues on the property"
It became clear there were also other issues surrounding the property which if disclosed we would not have touched it with a barge pole, subsequently after 3 months of issues we pulled out of the purchase.
Clearly we have lost out financially due to premature provision of funds to purchase including missing out on a £2052 dividend payment from shares. We have asked several independant sources of our rights to compensation and they all seem to come back with there's nothing we can do as "We had not entered a contract" i.e Exchanged.
We find this hard to believe as they accepted our offer (Verbal Contract) we signed completion papers (Written contract) The Estate Agents particulars were untrue and documents from the vendor were intended to mislead. Surely this must be classed as "Obtaining funds by deception"! or are property laws not the same

Any advice would be appreciated

anselld

Did you actually exchange contracts and pay a deposit? Or did you just sign contracts ready for exchange but pull out prior to exchange?

paddy's_mum

In your shoes, I would be asking some very pointed questions of your solicitor and I would not be accepting fudged answers.

To have failed to spot and follow up on such a recent planning application refusal is to my mind close to negligent. It may be that the firm of solicitors might be 'persuaded' to make good some of your losses rather than have their slip-up made public.

Running_Horse

Rightmove link?

Sounds like you had a lucky escape.

I would be tempted to report them to the local planning department.

JQ.

Your friends were correct.

It does sound like your solicitors were poor, I'd certainly be asking for any fees to be refunded. However there's no compensation to be had as you've made no losses. Your personal circumstances with regard dividend payments are just that, your personal circumstances and not related to the purchase.

G_M

The solicitor should have spotted this. Follow their complaints process. However even if they'd spotted it they would have incurred some costs by that stage, as would you.

Any claim against the vendor would, I think, have to be based on fraud (signing the PIF) rather than the sale contract since this was never Exchanged, but to be honest I wouldn't go there.

MegaMiniMouse

In a totally perverse way, it might have been better if you had not discovered your solicitor's error until after completion. You might then have been able to prove the solicitor liable for your losses (plus damages etc).

As things stand, you appear to have escaped disaster by the skin of your teeth, and the legal view might be that you have nothing to be compensated for.

MMM

kingstreet

In what way were the agent's sales particulars untrue?

Jenniefour

I would have thought that it is your solicitor who has been negligent here - it is their job to check on the issues that came to light at the eleventh hour, that's what they get paid for. I would find that level of service unacceptable and negligent. My view is that it's not relevant whether you actually exchanged/completed but thank goodness, you hadn't, would have been a disastrous mess. The fact that a complete disaster was avoided is not the point - this sale should not have progressed to the point it had, the planning permission issues should have been picked up and your solicitor should have been advising you not to proceed. At the very least you need your fee refunded - simply on the basis that the issues came to light not as a reult of your solicitor perusing the documentation carefully but because you, the client spotted a document - which she then said she hadn't checked. Find out what their complaints procedure is - and you might already have this, check the documents the solicitor sent when you engaged them.

Davesnave

"The property has council tax banding and has all utilities as it has been occupied (Obviously illegally for the last 11 years)"

Irrelevant now perhaps, but surely, if this were true, the vendor could ask for a Certificate of Lawfulness in respect of the use of the property as residential?

Mrs_Arcanum

Davesnave wrote: »

"The property has council tax banding and has all utilities as it has been occupied (Obviously illegally for the last 11 years)"

Irrelevant now perhaps, but surely, if this were true, the vendor could ask for a Certificate of Lawfulness in respect of the use of the property as residential?

Exactly! Anything used in a particular way contrary to planning permission for 10 years or more should get a Certificate of Lawfulness pretty much on the the nod.