Pls HELP! Negligent solicitor caused developer to withdraw from sale!

sbmcb

Developer is David Wilson Homes; solicitor Garner Canning - just in case anyone with more experience on here knows whether this might be a common thing??

Could it be co-incidental that we had to use their solicitor and it was their solicitor who knew the sale was dependent on this info then withheld it until last minute??

ILW

Would you have walked away from the sale if you had to maintain the tree?

sbmcb

We just wanted to make an informed decision. We asked could we get a specialist to advice us and had actually obtained a quote in the time from receiving the info. I just don't think it's good customer service to expect us to proceed without the facts.

zzzLazyDaisy

sbmcb wrote: »

Lazydazy the property is freehold. If you imagine where the house is, there's a drive/road way infront and then opposite there's a grass verge and a fence. However the boundary lines show that the property we were buying went behind this fence and into the neighbouring field.

So you already knew that the boundary of your land extended into the field?

It isn't for the solicitor to advise you how you should maintain the land your were buying. It was up to you to decide whether you wished to buy this land which would mean you would have the responsibility for maintaining it.

I don't mean to be disrespectful, but are you an FTB by any chance?

becominganobsessivesaver

Looks like their year end is 30th June, so any sale after today would hit their 2014 financial results. Basically they now have a year to get another sale, which given the new schemes is likely to be at a higher price. Unfortunately you're no use to them now as you can't increase this year's sales figures.

sbmcb

Kinda think that too becomibganobsessivesaver...

Lazydaisy-don't worry about being disrespectful-only want people's honest opinion and appreciate all the comments above. Not FTB-myself and husband both own flats but this is our first house purchase. Have literally saved every penny in order to gather a healthy 30% deposit for a family home which is why we are so heartbroken. This house was def a heart buy...moving from inner city London to the country, swapping views of terraced houses and back to back traffic for countryside views.

We are not selling a property and are therefore ready to jump when another house comes along, just really upsetting that because the developer says so, we have lost in the region of 2.5k just like that. I know that this is the risk with buying any property but just feels so unfair.

Guess we have to think that if the solicitor failed to find out this info for us, God knows what else he missed....hard not to notice a 20 foot tree I would have thought!!!!

MobileSaver

sbmcb wrote: »

We were forced to use their solicitor you see-we had no choice ... price of 430k.

This may sound insensitive but I am at a loss as to why anyone buying a 400k+ property would be so naive and not instruct their own independent solicitor.

sbmcb

PS we didn't 'know' the boundary line went into the neighbouring field. We only asked the question because it looked that way on the plans (if that makes sense). Currently printing and highlighting all our emails to the solicitor with all the questions we raised....and in another pile, the very few and very limited info we received in response.

I feel we are owed an explanation at the very least. I know the developer are still forcing buyers to use him and "had no problem with him in the past". Perhaps we were just unlucky and this wasn't meant to be....or perhaps our solicitor was lazy/unresponsive - either way I'd like someone to offer some advice.

sbmcb

Mobile saver we argued this point too-were worried about conflict of interests and contacted NHBC for advice...

We were told-pay 430k and use own solicitor; pay the negotiated price and use our solicitor as they wanted to have control to guarantee completion date of 28/6/13. Irony hey.

This thread is actually pretty good-beginning of this thread I was heartbroken. Now I'm actually thinking thank God - who knows what other issues would have come up later on!!

I_have_spoken

YOu could go for a small claims (http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/small-claims-court), best case they don't defend it to avoid appearing in court.