wrongful exchange of contracts

EscapetoSnowdon

Yorkie1 wrote: »

Both you and your husband should know, therefore, that you should a) read all the information before offering advice, and b) make sure you know what you're talking about before offering advice - particularly if you seek to bolster the credibility of your advice by citing your vocational training.

The SRA does not deal with complaints against solicitors. The Legal Ombudsman deals with complaints against solicitors and has done for well over a year now. OP has already been advised of this in this thread, and has already had preliminary conversations with the LEO. If you had done your research and read the thread you would have spotted this.

My opinion is I would contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority to enable them to ascertain whether there have been any other complaints about the solicitor concerned. If you go to the Solicitors Regulatory Authority website and look at "What We Do" it states:

Setting standards for solicitors:
Our aim is to give the public full confidence in the solicitors' profession.

We set the standards for qualifying as a solicitor.

We monitor the performance of organisations that provide legal training.

We draft the rules of professional conduct, particularly to make sure they protect the interests of clients.

We provide authoritative guidance and rules to solicitors on ethical issues, laws and regulations that affect solicitors' work.

We administer the roll (register) of solicitors.

We provide information to the public about solicitors, their work and the standards the public is entitled to expect.

We set requirements for solicitors' continuing professional development.

Regulating independently

Our aim is serve the public interest and protect consumers of legal services.

We monitor solicitors and their firms to make sure they are complying with the rules.

We exchange information with other regulators and law enforcement agencies in order to protect the public.

We investigate concerns about solicitors' standards of practice and compliance with the rules, where necessary taking regulatory action such as reprimanding the solicitor.

When necessary, we close down solicitors' firms so as to protect clients and the wider public, and returning papers and monies to their owners.

We refer solicitors to the independent Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal and deal with the prosecutions.

We run a compensation fund to help people who have lost money as a result of a solicitor's dishonesty or failure to account for money they have received.

Given that the SRA sets the requirements for solicitors continuing professional development (CPD) if the there was an administrative error compounded by the solicitors oversight in failing to disclose the report, they could make a recommendation the solicitor undertakes CPD training to avoid such mistakes in future or if the error is deemed to be sufficiently serious refer the matter to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. Should you then feel the need to take the matter further, any decision by the SRA would be considered by the Legal Ombudsman as Any such decision by the SRA should be given consideration by the Legal Ombudsman should you decide to take the matter further and seek a compensation award. Ultimately the options are entirely for you to decide as to whether to proceed with the matter further.

Yorkie1

I note you've now edited your post.

You are still making errors about the SRA. It does not set individual CPD requirements for solicitors.

OP, read this page of the SRA website. It makes it clear that if the issue is one of poor practice, LEO should be the first port of call after you have exhausted the complaints procedure of the practice.

livrules

Hi all - thanks again for the ongoing advise.....

In short, we are going ahead with completion scheduled for end of Feb. We are worried that if we complain and make clear our intention to make a claim to the complaints dept at this stage, then the solicitor may be advised by his firm to drop us. We still have a few weeks before completion so if we initiated the claim now, the solicitor would surely be informed which we are trying to avoid until then. If we don't complain to the firm's complaints department before completion (we did officially start a file with the ombudsman the day after he exchanged) does anyone think it may affect any future claim? In other words, is our complaint registered with the ombudsman enough for now? Sorry for all the questions - I'm rather layman when it comes to matters of law.....

RabbitMad

livrules wrote: »

Hi all - thanks again for the ongoing advise.....

In short, we are going ahead with completion scheduled for end of Feb. We are worried that if we complain and make clear our intention to make a claim to the complaints dept at this stage, then the solicitor may be advised by his firm to drop us. We still have a few weeks before completion so if we initiated the claim now, the solicitor would surely be informed which we are trying to avoid until then. If we don't complain to the firm's complaints department before completion (we did officially start a file with the ombudsman the day after he exchanged) does anyone think it may affect any future claim? In other words, is our complaint registered with the ombudsman enough for now? Sorry for all the questions - I'm rather layman when it comes to matters of law.....

I think this approach is all wrong.

Find a solicitor that will take your case and has experience in this area. Then instruct that solicitor that you would not have exchanged unless £18k was knocked off the price.

Then see what they advise.

If you complete without saying a word I doubt you'll get a penny compensation.

But its your choice.

DVardysShadow

RabbitMad wrote: »

I think this approach is all wrong.

Find a solicitor that will take your case and has experience in this area. Then instruct that solicitor that you would not have exchanged unless £18k was knocked off the price.

Then see what they advise.

If you complete without saying a word I doubt you'll get a penny compensation.

But its your choice.

Absolutely. If you complete, it will show that the deal was acceptable to you. It is even late to be kicking up a fuss now - it should have been done on the day and the vendors should have been told. That might have produced a voluntary renegotiation. So you have probably thrown away one route to a remedy already. The vendors will now be packing and in a mindset that they are moving. Plus there may be a whole chain above who have made decisions based on your solicitors mistake.

You have kept quiet about this for a week and you are now in the position where you either need to accept the mistake and live with the £18k loss or you need to make serious waves to recover the position and risk messing people about.

Sammie_UK1

I'm a FTB and currently in the process of buying our first home; Mortgage app in progress and surveys due to be arranged this week. Reading this thread has really scared me. It just goes to show that ANYTHING can go wrong when buying a house and you need to prepared for it. I'm actually quite terrified of the whole process now.

I have learnt one thing though... To communicate important matters/questions via email so there is always a trail of evidence should you need it.

Right; I'm off to have some nightmares about our house purchase..

nighty night..!!

lizzyshep

Sammie_UK1 wrote: »

I'm a FTB and currently in the process of buying our first home; Mortgage app in progress and surveys due to be arranged this week. Reading this thread has really scared me. It just goes to show that ANYTHING can go wrong when buying a house and you need to prepared for it. I'm actually quite terrified of the whole process now.

I have learnt one thing though... To communicate important matters/questions via email so there is always a trail of evidence should you need it.

Right; I'm off to have some nightmares about our house purchase..

nighty night..!!

Try not to worry too much - what happened in this thread is very unusual. I understand how stressful it all is though - I am a second time buyer and have learnt so much this time round! My advice would be to read as much as you can in advance, on here and other websites. Richard Webster has a good site, you could also Google 'how conveyancing works', 'house moving tips and advice', and in my case 'building regulations and indemnity policy'! The more clued up the better. And don't assume your solicitor will automatically tell you everything, or that your seller will know everything! In our case they didn't realise they needed BR approval and this slowed things down by at least 2 weeks. Finally, just be glad you aren't selling at the same time, that is truly hard work!