Solicitors at fault? - failure to forward / read documents

thewrongtrousers

Mother-in-Law has just bought a flat recently and we had a terrible time with the solicitors. I posted about this already so won't repeat myself here.

Anyway since the sale another issue has come to light. I feel that the solicitors have mislead us and failed both to read documents properly and forward us these documents.

Brief Timeline:

• In 2015 there was an asbestos re-report carried out on the property.
• This was forwarded to us from the solicitor who also raised the concern that there may be asbestos in the flat.
• We asked several times for clarification of this and asked them if there was an orginal report and to ask the sellers solicitors to question this with the property management company (PMC).
• Eventually our solicitor came back with exactly the same report and stated that there was no asbestos in the flat and not to worry. They also included emails from the sellers solicitors and the PMC stating the only evidence of asbestos was a small amount on the outside of the property.
• On receiving the keys we were cleaning out a cupboard and after removing a load of tape discovered two large asbestos pipes, the removal cost of which is approx £500.
• We immediately contacted the solicitors who are saying it is buyer beware, and that they didn't go into the property to check themselves - Yes I was well aware they didn't!!!.
• However I then contacted the management company and it turns out there is some crucial information that the solicitors failed to act on.

The PMC had sent them a form (LEP) with the asbestos report which clearly states that the asbestos report only covers managed areas of the property. Not only was this form not forwarded to us with the asbestos report (which doesn't say anything about managed areas only). I had also very clearly asked about the 'flat' rather than the 'property' several times and made it obvious we were concered about the existence of asbestos in the flat, only to be told it was fine.
To me it looks like the solicitors did not read this form as surely they should have mentioned the asbestos report didn't include the flat. We had no idea it didn't as we had never seen the form. Had either of these happened we would have had the oppurtunity to have our own asbestos survey solely on the flat.

Are we asking too much of the solicitors to have forwarded the form to us or to have read the form and told us of it's contents? It was my understanding that this is exactly what they are supposed to do.

sparky130a

thewrongtrousers wrote: »

[*]On receiving the keys we were cleaning out a cupboard and after removing a load of tape discovered two large asbestos pipes, the removal cost of which is approx £500.

It isn't, it really isn't....

thewrongtrousers

sparky130a wrote: »

It isn't, it really isn't....

Er confused, that is what we have been quoted by a local asbestos removal company. Are you saying their quote is incorrect or suggesting we remove ourselves so it is free?

Either way it isn't all that helpful as I am asking about the solicitors not the cost of asbestos removal.

AlexMac

I'm no lawyer, but as regards your Q...

thewrongtrousers wrote: »

Are we asking too much of the solicitors to have forwarded the form to us or to have read the form and told us of it's contents? It was my understanding that this is exactly what they are supposed to do.

That's a reasonable understanding; every solicitor on my last half dozen or more purchases over the years has reported fully, in writing and sometimes orally as well, on all searches and responses, with both a summary as well as copies of all documents received; sometimes neatly bound as a handover pack.

You seem clear that they have screwed up ...

thewrongtrousers wrote: »

...I had very clearly asked about the 'flat' rather than the 'property' several times and made it obvious we were concered about the existence of asbestos in the flat, only to be told it was fine.

To me it looks like the solicitors ... should have mentioned the asbestos report didn't include the flat. We had no idea it didn't as we had never seen the form.

Had either of these happened we would have had the oppurtunity to have our own asbestos survey solely on the flat.

... so the only issue is what you now plan to do about it?

I assume you will immediately have the asbestos professionally removed?

And then invoke the solicitor's own Complaints Procedure, setting out what they did wrong and what you expect by way of redress?
An apology?
£500 compensation, to put you back where you should have been?

Keep it simple and look at all the paperwork, emails and reports they sent you and hope you have evidence that you were...
...

thewrongtrousers wrote: »

...told it was fine.

Then, when they refuse, or wriggle, escalate the complaint to their regulator- the Law Society or whoever.. (google how to complain about a conveyancing solicitor)

Good luck; whether or not you succeed, its lucky it's only a £500 problem.

sparky130a

thewrongtrousers wrote: »

Er confused, that is what we have been quoted by a local asbestos removal company. Are you saying their quote is incorrect or suggesting we remove ourselves so it is free?

Either way it isn't all that helpful as I am asking about the solicitors not the cost of asbestos removal.

I'm saying it's excessive.

As for the solicitor. Good luck.

thewrongtrousers

sparky130a wrote: »

I'm saying it's excessive.

As for the solicitor. Good luck.

Ah okay, thanks - we did get a second quote at £600+. There are no other companies in the area and the other two I called were quite far away and said it wouldn't be worth their while doing.

Cakeguts

Solicitors do not visit the property they only deal with the legal aspects. If you want to check on asbestos you get a survey done. What a survey said in 2015 may not apply now. What you want is an up to date survey. You can't blame the solicitors for the fact that you didn't do this.

davidmcn

Do the pipes actually need removed?

thewrongtrousers

AlexMac wrote: »

I'm no lawyer, but as regards your Q...

That's a reasonable understanding; every solicitor on my last half dozen or more purchases over the years has reported fully, in writing and sometimes orally as well, on all searches and responses, with both a summary as well as copies of all documents received; sometimes neatly bound as a handover pack.

You seem clear that they have screwed up ...

... so the only issue is what you now plan to do about it?

I assume you will immediately have the asbestos professionally removed?

And then invoke the solicitor's own Complaints Procedure, setting out what they did wrong and what you expect by way of redress?
An apology?
£500 compensation, to put you back where you should have been?

Keep it simple and look at all the paperwork, emails and reports they sent you and hope you have evidence that you were...
...

Then, when they refuse, or wriggle, escalate the complaint to their regulator- the Law Society or whoever.. (google how to complain about a conveyancing solicitor)

Good luck; whether or not you succeed, its lucky it's only a £500 problem.

Yes that has always been my experience of buying and selling a house, and assumed solicitors were supposed to do it, just didn't know if they had to. Luckily it isn't all that much, could have been worse, and yes I have all the corrospondence they sent. Yes the £500 would be nice but I am not holding my breath on that one.

I am planning to wait until the director of the company gets back to me, but he said without even looking at the case that it wasn't their problem and it was buyer beware. When he gets back to me formally I will send proper reply to him detailing and quoting all the times we were told it was okay - I have already dated and copied these and the laguage is very clear. Unless they refund any money we have paid out to have it removed we will be complaining to the regulator.

I actually wonder if our solicitor was not sent the form and it was only sent to the sellers solicitor, however I cannot see how this would make much of a difference, as it is the same company and should still have been sent on and at least read and the information passed on.

thewrongtrousers

Cakeguts wrote: »

Solicitors do not visit the property they only deal with the legal aspects. If you want to check on asbestos you get a survey done. What a survey said in 2015 may not apply now. What you want is an up to date survey. You can't blame the solicitors for the fact that you didn't do this.

Did you read what I wrote? I know they don't visit the property and they only deal with the legal aspects, but in this case I would argue that they have not dealt with those aspects properly.

There was a survey done, and it was regarded as being up to date by both the solicitors and the PMC - they told us it was anyway.

What the solicitors didn't tell us despite being asked that the survey was only the managed areas. They should have known because the LEP form mentioned it. They didn't forward this form to us nor tell us its contents or existence. The asbestos survey didn't mention managed areas only so we wouldn't have known.

If we had known this we would have got a seperate survey done, why would we get one done if we are told there is one that covers the flat and that is up to date?

thewrongtrousers

davidmcn wrote: »

Do the pipes actually need removed?

Yes unfortunately so, otherwise it wouldn't be much of an issue.