Can we sue Solicitor?

Ricools

Yesterday we moved into our new house and just as we were unpacking all the boxes our Solicitor called with the bombshell that she couldn't transfer the title deeds into our name as the seller had debts and 2 inhibitions against him. The sale of the house does not clear these debts and the solicitor says that if the seller doesn't come up with the cash we will have to move out of here and buy another property. The missives are concluded which means she hasn't done her job properly and checked any of this out beforehand. The seller was using the same solicitor as us and until now we didn't know that this was not allowed. We have been told that we can stay here until we find somewhere else but we want to stay here. Can anyone give any advice to us? Can we sue the solicitor?

Thanks in advance!

G_M

Scotland - so no idea.

But seems to me a clear case of professioal negligence. And conflict of interest.

Speak to another solicitor.

Emmzi

yes, but actually the solicitor will be covered by insurance, so a claim may be enough I doubt you need to see the inside of a court.

You cannot force the charge holder to give it up, so you cannot force staying in the house. The seller MAY be able to o a bit of persuading of lenders - some cash is better than no cash!

I am of course assuming you get all the money BACK into your bank account!

kingstreet

I'd say you have a very good case if the solicitor has not correctly established clear title to the property before exchange. If there's a mortgage lender involved they will be very interested in this as they lay down strict guidelines to solicitors who act for THEM as well as for you.

I would imagine the solicitor will do anything to avoid the stigma of an inquiry by the mortgage lender and a claim on its PI cover.

Telling them you're waiting for the title you were expecting will no doubt concentrate their minds a bit.

Ricools

Thanks for your replies. There is a mortgage lender involved and the solicitor says she can only legally hold on to the cash for 7 days before having to return it to them (returning the balance from the sale of our old flat to us). This basically means the seller has to come up with the extra cash, which the solicitor says is a substantial amount, before then to allow for the title deeds to be transferred over to us. We just cannot believe this has happened!

What sort of claim can we make against the solicitor? We bought the house for a very good price and are unlikely to get something similar for the same price.

McKneff

In the meantime - squat

kingstreet

Ricools wrote: »

the solicitor says she can only legally hold on to the cash for 7 days before having to return it to them

So the solicitor hasn't actually completed. She's realised before transferring the money she could not do so. What a dog's dinner this is...!

She can honour her commitment to the mortgage lender by returning the money to them but she'll leave you homeless because she hasn't fulfilled your contract with the vendor.

I'd get a new solicitor first thing Monday morning!

Emmzi

you need to quantify your actual financial loss (forget all the nonsense you see on tv about pain and suffering)

you won't be able to do that until you have found and bought your new place but I would expect

- rental accomodation *less* what you would have paid on mortgage etc
- storage of your things
- additional search/ survey/ mortgage fees
- extra days off work

You will not be able to recover "loss of a bargain" if the next place is more expensive.

Start a list... and ask the solicitor what her procedure is in thee circumstances!!

clutton_2

i would start looking for another home... solicitors can be sued later on

theartfullodger

Of course you can sue your solicitor... you can sue me for wearing unpleasant coloured socks if you so wish.. Question is, will you easily find another solicitor - who is any good - to help you sue a solicitor..( what do you think???...) and will you win.. (guess who's got access to lots and lots of help avoiding losing such cases...- probably not you I suspect..)..

Cheers!

Artful

googler

Well, since you have all of Saturday evening and Sunday to build your case....

Law Society of Scotland homepage

Their complaints page

Solicitor Standards Booklet

My non-legal view is that the solicitor should have verified all this before concluding missives. They haven't adequately checked the seller's title, nor conducted all the appropriate searches properly. There also seems to be a conflict of interest according to para 13 of the booklet.