Staircasing: amending lease provisions and solicitor's liability

heffalump123

Hello

I am in the process of stair casing to 100% of my flat in south London.

I bought the first 75% in early 2014. I was happy with the solicitor I used at the time so am using the same company to staircase. I have a different solicitor this time though.

However, it has just transpired that there are two clauses in my lease that the new solicitor has advised need amending - which will cost quite a lot. One of these clauses (or both) may have been overlooked by the first solicitor - if so, I wonder is the company liable for the costs involved.

The first is to do with a pre-emption provision. My lease has a clause which means I have to give the housing association first refusal if I am selling meaning they can nominate a purchaser before I go to the open market.
This is not compliant with HCA guidelines so the solicitor has advised that I should get this removed. The housing association however are charging £300 to do this.
Given that they are not compliant with current guidelines the solicitor asked if they'd cover the fee. Their reply was: "The HCA do recommend removal of the pre-emption provisions but do not state that we are unable to charge for the same."

I'm wondering should the first solicitor have picked up on this when I was buying. If so would the fee still have applied at the time?

Has anyone had this experience? If so, did you challenge it with the housing association?

The second issue that has come up is the solicitor has found that while the terms of my lease say that the housing association is responsible for building insurance, the insurance provisions themselves are not adequate. She thinks that this is an error with the lease which was not picked up on the solicitor when I was buying the first share (or the situation might have been different when I was buying.) To amend it will cost £800.

If it turns out that she did make a mistake, would she be liable for the cost this is going to incur? If so, what is the best way to proceed? My current solicitor cannot advise as she is not a litigation solicitor – and also she works for the same company!

I need to complete by 16 August or I have to restart and get another valuation so I'd rather pay the money than get embroiled in something that will take time to resolve. But I want to check before I proceed whether I should be seeking legal advice from a litigation solicitor.

A complicated query I know but hoping someone might be able to advise.
Would Citizens Advice be able to help with these initial queries?

Thanks
Cathy

00ec25

for point 1. I would have thought that original solicitor's liability depends wholly on when you purchased the property given the HCA removed changed the pre emption rule wef 30 April 2015. So, short of the original solicitor being clairvoyant, how could they have warned you about a rule change that did not exist when you purchased?

point 2. no idea

heffalump123

Ah the solicitor was unsure when the guidelines changed so you've cleared that up re point 1. Thanks for that...

The solicitor said she was surprised at the £300 fee however and said that it was worth contacting the housing association directly to appeal. Will try that - curious to know if anyone else has had this experience.

Thrugelmir

heffalump123 wrote: »

The solicitor said she was surprised at the £300 fee however and said that it was worth contacting the housing association directly to appeal. Will try that - curious to know if anyone else has had this experience.

Probably just covers the cost of an hour of their solicitors time. As they'll wish any changes to be legally compliant.

davidmcn

heffalump123 wrote: »

The second issue that has come up is the solicitor has found that while the terms of my lease say that the housing association is responsible for building insurance, the insurance provisions themselves are not adequate. She thinks that this is an error with the lease which was not picked up on the solicitor when I was buying the first share (or the situation might have been different when I was buying.) To amend it will cost £800.

Why will it cost £800? Is that just your solicitor's fee? If she's acknowledging that their firm ought to have picked up on it when you bought, why aren't they offering to cover your costs?

00ec25

heffalump123 wrote: »

Ah the solicitor was unsure when the guidelines changed so you've cleared that up re point 1. Thanks for that...

I suggest you employ a better solicitor then as it is the very first google result using the search term: hca pre emption rule change

I'd never heard of it until your post

heffalump123

"Why will it cost £800? Is that just your solicitor's fee? If she's acknowledging that their firm ought to have picked up on it when you bought, why aren't they offering to cover your costs?"

That's the fee the housing association's solicitor has quoted for the amendment. My solicitor thinks it's excessive.
I haven't yet contacted the firm to ask them if they'd offer to cover this cost - I am checking what my rights are before I do so. Figure they're more likely to do so if I come across as knowing what my rights are!

I'd look into a litigation solicitor but I'm conscious that the deadline to complete is in a few weeks - if I miss it I have to get another valuation and restart the process which will cost. I'd prefer to send my solicitor's firm an email first asking them to consider covering this cost - otherwise I will have to take further action etc.

I wouldn't have gone back to this solicitor firm if I had known that they made a mistake the first time around - but I am where I am now, they had an upfront fee (not the full sum) which I have paid already and with the deadline coming up I can't really move to a new solicitor now.

Won't be recommending them though...