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Can we sue Solicitor?
Comments
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Can I just inject a note of realism. Nobody here knows precisely what has happened, and why. Nor do they know what duties the solicitor has to the buyer. Instead of screaming that the solicitor is negligent, the right thing for Ricools to do is to get proper paid-for advice. So far, it looks like the solicitor has preserved Ricools' funds, because it has not been possible for the existing charges to be discharged in full. So, things are nowhere near as bad as they could be.
Ricools, why are you still answering questions here, instead of being round at a solicitor getting this sorted out?No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?0 -
Yesterday we moved into our new house ... 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.
I know this won't go down well with the solicitor, but essentially
Mortgage to be discharged + (Debts+Inhibitions) minus Purchase Price = Shortfall as I see it.
If Solicitors pay Shortfall out of their own funds, problem goes away, surely?
And since Solicitors have blatantly failed in their duty of care, shouldn't they at least be considering this option?0 -
I do not think we will have a problen getting the sale proceeds back from our original house as the solicitor still has these. They did not go to the vendor.
We are not squatting either as the vendor has agreed to let us stay here, out of guilt.
The standard UK house purchase contract allows the 10% deposit you put down to be used by your vendor as his deposit on his purchase. You are quite fortunate that evidently your vendor is not buying elsewhere.No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?0 -
I know this won't go down well with the solicitor, but essentially
Mortgage to be discharged + (Debts+Inhibitions) minus Purchase Price = Shortfall as I see it.
If Solicitors pay Shortfall out of their own funds, problem goes away, surely?
And since Solicitors have blatantly failed in their duty of care, shouldn't they at least be considering this option?
No, not if all the OP has lost is some money on fees, and something for the upset. And who is to say the solicitor is to blame in the first place? Is the solicitor actually required at the stage of exchanging contracts to check that the completion money will be sufficient?No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?0 -
So how the blue blazes did you get the keys?
When I bought last month (granted, in England, but how different can it be), I had to wait until the mortgage had come through and all of my money inclusive of the deposit was transfered to the vendor and HER solicitor confirmed receipt before the EA would give me the keys in the first place....
If your solicitor still has the money from your mortgage and your deposit, but has failed to ensure that this will cover the redemption of the mortgage and any additional fees...you shouldnt have the keys and you shouldnt have been able to get into this situation in the first place?
Please dont take the above as a criticism, I just dont understand how this could have happened at all...perhaps someone can explain the mechanism and how this situation came to pass? I understand that the solicitor was clearly incompetant, but how on earth could this physically have happened?Debt Free! Long road, but we did it
Meet my best friend : YNAB (you need a budget)
My other best friend is a filofax.
Do or do not, there is no try....Yoda.
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No, not if all the OP has lost is some money on fees, and something for the upset. And who is to say the solicitor is to blame in the first place? Is the solicitor actually required at the stage of exchanging contracts to check that the completion money will be sufficient?
The purchasing solicitor is required to ensure that the seller has proper title to the property, and is expected to carry out searches to detect any second charges against the property.
The selling solicitor also should be ensuring that the seller is able to sell, by covering all finance secured against the property. I'd also expect any EA marketing the property independently of the seller's solicitor to at least make enquiries of the seller to determine what charges there are against the property.
Since the same solicitor seems to have been covering both of the above ......0 -
The purchasing solicitor is required to ensure that the seller has proper title to the property, and is expected to carry out searches to detect any second charges against the property.
The selling solicitor also should be ensuring that the seller is able to sell, by covering all finance secured against the property. I'd also expect any EA marketing the property independently of the seller's solicitor to at least make enquiries of the seller to determine what charges there are against the property.
Since the same solicitor seems to have been covering both of the above ......
I agree that that process needs to happen. It did happen, but at the point of completion, which is why completion did not take place. I am not convinced it's a requirement at the point of exchange of contracts. Do you know for sure that it is?
It's good for the OP that he/she has got the keys BTW. Maybe someone released them without checking with the solicitor? Who knows?No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?0 -
The seller's agent or solicitor released them to the buyer without actually completing the sale, i.e. before the money had changed hands.
They shouldn't have.
The OP stated above that "the vendor has agreed to let us stay here, out of guilt." Presumably part of agreeing to them staying there would have been to give them access ie, the keys.0 -
I agree that that process needs to happen. It did happen, but at the point of completion, which is why completion did not take place. I am not convinced it's a requirement at the point of exchange of contracts. Do you know for sure that it is?
My non-legal view is that it's a requirement that this be done prior to concluding missives. Otherwise the solicitor leaves their client vulnerable to situations such as this, and the solicitor fails in their duty.
Whether it's a requirement set out in statute or legislation, I know not.0
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