House sold - solicitor forgot to send us money!

Miliwife

We completed house sale on Monday and solicitor phoned to say should have money Weds or Thurs. money wasn't in account yesterday and left message for someone to call back. At 4 pm phoned again to say was a delay but sent by BACS and to check ac today. Money not in today. I phoned again today and solicitor said it was overlooked and when she had found out yesterday following my call money had been sent by bACS and they couldn't recall monies to do electronic transfer) We now don't expect to receive monies until Monday or Tues. To make matters worse we live in Belgium (hubby in forces) and he is flying over tonight to buy a car for son (which we now don't have cash for) and we can't pay off amount to other mortgage and find a home for rest of monies whilst we are in UK. This is going to be time consuming and stressful doing from Belgium. Obviously we now are loosing out financially and stressed out about it. Wondered if anyone can advise what we can claim for from solicitors ( the 4% they charge for late payment and how much for inconvenience and extra time to sort money out). Amount involved £137,000!!!

auroan

Charge them 4% of 137,000 for late payment.

kingstreet

BACS?

Did the solicitor not give you the option of a CHAPS for about £30?

mgtr

I think to charge the amount that the firm themselves considers fair - is fair !!!!

Therefore, request the same.

And when you do so, by email - copy in SRA and even the Legal Ombudsman

Yorkie1

Wonder if they charged for the use of a CHAPS payment in the completion statement you've already paid ... ?

Formal complaint to the person named on your client care letter.

If you have incurred costs as a result of their delay then I'd start making a formal record of them too.

Ulfar

Given the errors, I would expect them to chaps the money at their expense.

Mickygg

With that sort of money why on earth is it not a chaps payment? Definately hit them with a minimum £100 demand for lost interest and hassle. You'll struggle to get much more imo.

Debt_Free_Chick

The late payment charge is presumably the annual rate so 4%pa ...?

So you'd charge them for the days late - approx 5/365 * 0.04 * 137,000 which is about £75

kingstreet

Was the OP originally offered CHAPS and turned it down?

When the solicitor realised the instruction had not been acted on, it should then have been CHAPSed at the solicitor's expense, IMHO. It sounds like the person who should have done it by BACS, did it later by BACS without telling anyone they'd screwed up,

Once sent by BACS, the solicitor can't get it back to CHAPS it, so that option went out the window...