What are my chances of compensation?

Adamskii_2

First off, apologies for longish post!

I'm currently trying to sell a flat which up was a buy to let property, but has been empty since I accepted an offer on this flat in September 2004.

In January, my solicitor discovered that my mortgage company had lost the deeds, and the lease to the property. The buyers solicitor quite reasonably refused to proceed with the purchase without these documents. My mortgage company insisted that the deeds weren't required and that copies could be obtained frmo the Land Registry. Unfortunately they also did not have a copy.

The deeds issue was resovled eventually, but my solicitor was still unable to obtain a lease, which the buyer's solicitor still required. Eventually at the start of March my solicitor obtained a counterpart lease from the freeholder's mortgage company, and my mortgage company offered to pay for an indemnity inurance policy to go with this. However, the purchaser refused to accept this and withdrew from the purchase.

So, due to my mortgage company's error in losing the deeds and lease, I am now out of pocket for:
• To date, 3 months mortgage and maintenance charge on an empty flat. The flat is now back on the market, so even if I was to find a new buyer immediately it would be at least another 2 months before I would be free of these monthly charges.
• Potential lower price achieved on the property due to falling market.
• Solicitor charges for the aborted sale.

I've complained to the mortgage company and so far they have offered to waive the mortgage redemption fee (£250 - what a rip off this is anyway!), and £25 to cover 'out of pocket' expenses. Considering how much I have lost due to their error I've rejected this and referred it to the Ombudsman.

Wondering if anyone with knowledge of these things has an opinion on my chances of obtaining more substantial compensation?

dunstonh

You should ask them to pay the solicitors bill as he no doubt has incurred greater costs and will be passing these on to you.

You cannot take the complaint any further until the lender issues a final "solution". If you reject that, then you can take it further if you wish.

Adamskii_2

The offer to waive the redemption fee and the £25 towards out of pocket expenses was their final offer, and I have already referred this to the Ombudsman. Just wanted to canvass opinion on what the chances of getting compensation to cover all the additional costs I have incurred, not just the solicitor fees.