Solicitors Have lost the funding from a sell of a house.

Jenny_Miles-Byrd

A family member have just sold their house, and was waiting for the funds to be put into her account. The Solicitors have placed the funds into a wrong account, and it going to take an extra three days to sort out. Can she claim compensation? And how, the solicitors don't seem that bothered about the stress the matter has put onto her shoulders and say if she wants the money quicker it going to £36.00 for Chaps. The solicitors should pay this surely out of good will. Any advice please?

anselld

If it is the Solicitors mistake then she could legitimately claim for loss of interest (or any other actual loss as a direct consequence). However that is probably peanuts for 3 days.

No legitimate claim for stress, etc, so unless the solicitor feels like a good-will gesture forget it.

Nobbie1967

What does she need the money for? Is the delay causing extra expense? If it's paying off a mortgage then I'd suggest asking for the extra interest that will be incurred due to the delay. For a 100k mortgage at 5%, this works out at £17/day. If the money was just going into a deposit account then it's probably only getting 1% so works out at £3-4/day for a £100k.

G_M

Story does not quite add up.

If the money was sent to wrong account/got lost, how can CHAPS speed up finding it.....?

Perhaps they never sent it at all and are now offering a same-day CHAPS transfer?

I would simply say yes, please CHAPS it over asap and waive the CHAPS fee as you caused the delay.

If they refuse, get it CHAP'd anyway, then raise a complaint afterwards via their complaints procedure.

skintpaul

should not have to wait for solicitors to recover money, before getting paid- their mistake, their loss.

Chase for money and any lost interest. Also report to regulatory body.

TBagpuss

If it was the solicitor who made a mistake, then yes, it is legitimate to expect them to bear the costs of putting right the mistake, and a gesture by way of apology for the stress would be reasonable.
However, if it was a mistake by the family member (for instance, if she made a mistake in giving them her bank details) then they are not to blame.

Also,if she changed her mind about the account she wanted the money paid to at the last minute then as part of anti-fraud measures it would be normal for the solicitors to double check this, which might delay matters.

movilogo

Recently I sold a house and got funds from solicitor 1 day after the sale.

I asked them what if money goes to wrong account and they said in their 30 years of trading that incident never happened. Although he did ask to confirm my account details several times.

I feel receiving money via cheque is far better. Usually solicitor's cheque is considered as cleared fund.