Solicitor Demanding Money - Help!!

epoman

mystic_trev wrote: »

The additional charge was on your house and therefore your responsibility.Just because your Solicitor made a miscalculation dosen't mean you don't have to pay up.One could say you should have noticed the mistake when you checked the statement.I can't see how you can thiink you're the "victim" as you must have known what your financial position was when you decided to move?

I agree wholeheartedly. There is no loss scenario here for the OP. In fact OP has had the benefit of holding on to the money. I think it would be morally bankrupt not to repay it immediately. To suggest installments smacks of taking advantage of the situation.

olly300

PUREHOMES wrote: »

I recently purchased a house. Two weeks after completion, my solicitor contacted me to tell me that they had made a mistake with their calculations and I owe them £3500. I told them that I didn't have that sort of money immediately and would pay them in a few months time. However, I have now received a letter telling me, that they are taking legal action against me to recover the outstanding balance on my account, which may include bankruptcy proceedings. This is obviously a mistake by them as all costs should be settled before completion. I even queried the amount before completion but was told it was right. My query is what is my best course of action? As they are at fault, however I feel like the victim and am becoming stressed with their intimidation tactics regarding legal proceedings.

The best course of action is to pay up.

However if you truly can't pay now then pay in monthly instalments.

Write to them via royal mail and use recorded delivery so you have proof of posting. Keep all copies of everything.

In the letter include a copy of any communication i.e. email or letter that you had querying their amount plus a copy of your previous letter. State clearly that unfortunately you don't have all the money immediately to hand and you wish to pay in monthly instalments of £xxx. ( Make sure your monthly instalments are high enough so you pay off the balance within 6-12 months. ) Also state in the letter that you see no reason for them to threaten you with court action at this stage as it is clear that they made a mistake in their billing which you have provided proof that you queried. Also state if they threaten you again with legal action you will have no choice but to refer the matter to the Legal Complaints Service. (http://www.legalcomplaints.org.uk) End with you have included a cheque for your first months instalment of £xxx and put the cheque number in the letter. Remember to include the cheque.

If you they do threaten you again then use the solicitor's complains procedure (use recorded delivery or fax for all correspondence) then complain to the LCS. If they take you to court which will be the small claims court, you will be able to show that you acted reasonably.

By the way if you miss an instalment without warning or for any reason they will take you to court to make you honour the agreement. If they threaten to add interest which they will try to, then you have to use the complaints procedure.

Richard_Webster

You owe the money but your solicicotr made a mistake. It does happen!

If you threaten a complaint to the the Solicitors Regulation Authority then usually that will bring some more conciliatory noises from your solicitor. Unless they have lots of evidence to prove that you knew perfectly well all along that their figures were wrong and you were in effect laughing at them the SRA would probably tell the solicitor to accept instalments and might even require a fee reduction.

Most solicictors would be daft to try to prove that you were stringing them along - and there's nothing in your posts to suggest a hint of this. The SRA would take a VERY dim view of a solicitor who tried this unless he had cast iron evidence. I definitely think you should press your offer of instalments and tell the solicitor you will take him to the SRA if he doesn't agree something reasonable with you.

As a conveyancing solicitor I believe the information given in the post to be useful but I accept no liability except to fee-paying clients

cattie

Surely the fact that you queried the amount before completion means that you were unsure if they had included everything outstanding on the actual completion statement? Or am I missing something here?