Seeking a solicitor to take action against another solicitor for negligence

glenrover

warmhands.coldheart wrote: »

Surely then if the bank can't even get the info from the solicitors, they can't hold the debt against your oh. might seem court will be the only route to get this sorted.

....or or at least the solicitor's failure to co-operate doesnt put them in a particulary good light. The problem we will face is that if the bank dont find in our favour and dismiss the mortgage then we will have a large debt against us. We can probably just about cope with paying this off if it comes to it but it would then be a huge risk for us to take the matter to court which may result in further costs if things didnt go our way. If any legal action was being taken the first target would have to be the financial adviser's firm and the fact that they have made an offer of £4k shows that they are acknowledging some wrongdoing.

glenrover

saverbuyer wrote: »

Have you asked any other solicitors for advice? What have they actually come back to you with? Do you have the means to fund potential litigation? Have you checked your insurance policies for legal expense cover? Did you wife attend the repossession hearing?

It sounds like a complicated case, I expect this could be a major stumbling block,

-we have had some advice from a solicitor friend but really need to appoint someone to actively deal with the case if it comes to it.
-depends on the cost of the litigation and what we will owe as a result of the re-possession whether we can afford to take action.
-no legal expenses cover unfortunately
-we were on honeymoon at time of repossession hearing and have been taking the stance that the mortgage is not ours etc. as a result of the subject access request i see that the repossession hearing was adjourned for some reason until October but we received no further paperwork or information since then. Have written twice to the bank (recoveries dept) asking for them to confirm position but they have not responded.
-yes the signing of the deed doesnt help...my wife is a trusting person and was naive but its no excuse for "professionals" to have acted in the way they did.

saverbuyer

glenrover wrote: »

-we have had some advice from a solicitor friend but really need to appoint someone to actively deal with the case if it comes to it.
-depends on the cost of the litigation and what we will owe as a result of the re-possession whether we can afford to take action.
-no legal expenses cover unfortunately
-we were on honeymoon at time of repossession hearing and have been taking the stance that the mortgage is not ours etc. as a result of the subject access request i see that the repossession hearing was adjourned for some reason until October but we received no further paperwork or information since then. Have written twice to the bank (recoveries dept) asking for them to confirm position but they have not responded.
-yes the signing of the deed doesnt help...my wife is a trusting person and was naive but its no excuse for "professionals" to have acted in the way they did.

You might actually get legal aid with this one. I think all you can do is ring around some local firms and see who will take it on. This will take many years to resolve.

Get a local firm quickly as the mortgage company could come after you wife for the shortfall. If the two of you are financially linked this will be destroying your credit rating.

Was it a joint mortgage? If the ex now bankrupt?

glenrover

saverbuyer wrote: »

You might actually get legal aid with this one. I think all you can do is ring around some local firms and see who will take it on. This will take many years to resolve.

Get a local firm quickly as the mortgage company could come after you wife for the shortfall. If the two of you are financially linked this will be destroying your credit rating.

Was it a joint mortgage? If the ex now bankrupt?

I think before going to any further expense at this time we will likely wait a few weeks until the bank come back to us with their decision. The matter will either be resolved quickly or as you say it could take a few years :-(

The mortgage wasnt a joint mortgage which is all the more surprising how he was able to do it. It was single mortgage in my wife's name.

My thoughts are that if it goes against us now then we will have to attempt to repay the debt to get it clear from us for a start and see what we can recover from other parties, ie financial adviser and solicitor.

saverbuyer

glenrover wrote: »

I think before going to any further expense at this time we will likely wait a few weeks until the bank come back to us with their decision. The matter will either be resolved quickly or as you say it could take a few years :-(

The mortgage wasnt a joint mortgage which is all the more surprising how he was able to do it. It was single mortgage in my wife's name.

My thoughts are that if it goes against us now then we will have to attempt to repay the debt to get it clear from us for a start and see what we can recover from other parties, ie financial adviser and solicitor.

It is your decision but I'm not sure I'd be comfortable paying the debt (looks like it could be over 100k) then perusing the other parties for damages. I would put the debt in dispute and explain to the lender what’s going on, then again I don’t know if you have you tried to mitigate you loss? It really is a tough one. You are fortunate to have the 100k to put down.

tommie

glenrover wrote: »

-Been offered £4k by the financial adviser for errors,

surely this is an admittance of wrongdoing? You have records of this offer?
How did they arrive at the figure of £4k and more importantly why?

glenrover

saverbuyer wrote: »

It is your decision but I'm not sure I'd be comfortable paying the debt (looks like it could be over 100k) then perusing the other parties for damages. I would put the debt in dispute and explain to the lender what’s going on, then again I don’t know if you have you tried to mitigate you loss? It really is a tough one. You are fortunate to have the 100k to put down.

Likely to be at worst about £80k. We have had the debt in dispute with bank and have always denied responsibility for the mortgage etc. We cant get on with our own life until this matter is gone.

We dont have 100k, we have about 40k and would have to try and pay the rest off.

glenrover

tommie wrote: »

surely this is an admittance of wrongdoing? You have records of this offer?
How did they arrive at the figure of £4k and more importantly why?

Exactly, they wouldnt offer an amount like this for nothing. Someone rekons this was the amount of the excess on their Professional Indemnity policy and the minimum amount that it was going to cost them anyway and also the amount in this region it would cost if we referred the matter the the financial ombudsman. They did not specify how they came to this figure only that it was to compensate for "errors and ommissions" on the original application.

Mistral001

glenrover wrote: »

-we have had some advice from a solicitor friend but really need to appoint someone to actively deal with the case if it comes to it.
-depends on the cost of the litigation and what we will owe as a result of the re-possession whether we can afford to take action.
-no legal expenses cover unfortunately
-we were on honeymoon at time of repossession hearing and have been taking the stance that the mortgage is not ours etc. as a result of the subject access request i see that the repossession hearing was adjourned for some reason until October but we received no further paperwork or information since then. Have written twice to the bank (recoveries dept) asking for them to confirm position but they have not responded.
-yes the signing of the deed doesnt help...my wife is a trusting person and was naive but its no excuse for "professionals" to have acted in the way they did.

My understanding of the way this works is as follows. 1) A solicitor commenting on another's solicitor's case without first getting the permission of the first solicitor can be considered professional misconduct. 2) Also, you will not get another solicitor to finish the work started by the first solicitor without dismissing the first solicitor ie. you sack them and pay them what you owe them for the work done to date. They might say that you owe them nothing and be glad that another solicitor will take on the case but you cannot just to decide to change solicitors and settle up with the first solicitor later.

Soas far as I can see, before going to another solicitor you need to get the permission of the first solicitor first. Or at least ask the second solicitor to get permission from the first solicitor.

glenrover

Mistral001 wrote: »

My understanding of the way this works is as follows. 1) A solicitor commenting on another's solicitor's case without first getting the permission of the first solicitor can be considered professional misconduct. 2) Also, you will not get another solicitor to finish the work started by the first solicitor without dismissing the first solicitor ie. you sack them and pay them what you owe them for the work done to date. They might say that you owe them nothing and be glad that another solicitor will take on the case but you cannot just to decide to change solicitors and settle up with the first solicitor later.

Soas far as I can see, before going to another solicitor you need to get the permission of the first solicitor first. Or at least ask the second solicitor to get permission from the first solicitor.

its clear enough in that regard as we do not currently have a solicitor working for us. Last solicitor couldnt (or didnt want) to progress the matter further so we have been doing our own work since then. The solicitor friend i mentioned is a freind who wasnt acting, just guiding us a bit but they arent experienced and not in this field.