How to find out who's liable for our losses

anselld

TeaCosy wrote: »

It's clear to me that the situation arose as a miscommunication between solicitors and I would like to find out where the error occurred so that we can ask for some recompense for our costs.

That is no doubt true but you are wasting your energy asking for Compo or even trying to get anyone to admit blame. The only communications which matter are those which form part of the contract and no mistake has been made with those.

ssparks2003

To be honest from what you have written there is no way of us knowing who is at fault, you would need to get someone to admit fault. I would say that that it reads as if you were not a pro-active buyer who managed the process, rather you bobbed along hoping that everything would go ok. So to some extent you have to be responsible for the issues.

TeaCosy

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Thinking further on this - and I think the only thing you can do is:
- learn to be more cynical about even taking advice from a professional (who should know what they are doing)

- perhaps write a letter to the person in charge of this firm of solicitors and state exactly what advice/"telling you what to do" you had from this particular employee of theirs and that it had caused you the following problem/bill and been a hardship to you to pay it and inconvenience to be put through the hassle involved. Followed by asking them to have a word with this particular solicitor about the pitfalls that can be encountered by a same day Exchange/Completion and that a solicitor should be aware of these factors and you hope she is "advised suitably" about these pitfalls - in order that no future clients incur such problems and expense because of her giving similar advice?/orders? to them.

You might just get lucky - if that really was her advice to you/telling you what to do and get an ex gratia payment not admitting liability. I wouldnt hold my breath about it though.

You'll probably get a very anodyne/admit nothing/no money enclosed reply to your letter - but the solicitor concerned will probably be told off for having given such dud advice that it hasnt helped the firms reputation. At least you will be able to take a bit of comfort from knowing she's less likely to do that to anyone else in the future. Solicitors are supposed to know about possible pitfalls like this - and a responsible one would advise against same day Exchange/Completion and explain the sort of thing that could go wrong with that.

Thank you

I think this is the approach I will try. I know that we are to blame for going ahead without questioning more and I will certainly be more cynical in the future!

Even if we get no recompense I would like my solicitor and her firm to know that their poor advice has caused us distress.

saajan_12

TeaCosy wrote: »

We did go ahead and exchange on our purchase that day and agreed completion the following week.

So the first contract with the vendor was to complete a week later, and they didn't break any contract so are not liable for any losses.

TeaCosy wrote: »

It's clear to me that the situation arose as a miscommunication between solicitors and I would like to find out where the error occurred so that we can ask for some recompense for our costs.

Two potential issues:
1) same day exchange & completion: Solicitors can only advise, you could have refused. Clearly until exchange there is no contract so either sale could fall through, leaving any removals costs wasted..

2) Miscommunication on the vendor's readiness to exchange & complete on the same day: If you are promised something and you spend money in reliance of that, you may be due damages. However in this case, even if the solicitors made no mistake and the vendors were expecting to complete same day, plans can change. There was no guarantee to rely on (e.g. exchange which is standard practice) when you booked removals, so it makes no difference whether there was any miscommunication.

In short, you may be able to complain to the solicitors for not fully ensuring you understood the implications of same day completion, but there is no recompense. You could have refused.

TeaCosy

ssparks2003 wrote: »

To be honest from what you have written there is no way of us knowing who is at fault, you would need to get someone to admit fault. I would say that that it reads as if you were not a pro-active buyer who managed the process, rather you bobbed along hoping that everything would go ok. So to some extent you have to be responsible for the issues.

I know that this is how it appears from my posts but be assured that it's not the case. We were very pro-active throughout the process but made a big mistake at the end which I hold my hands up to.

Our solicitor had been really good up to this point, dealing with all our queries and those of our buyers promptly and it had been a very smooth process. We were very happy with her and there was no reason not to trust her.

moneyistooshorttomention

A clue as to the level of person dealing with this would probably lie in how much you were charged for this firms work.

I've bought a house twice - first one and current one. First time = 1980s and it was a solicitor that time. Fast forward to 2010's and used the same firm (if rather a lot bigger than they used to be from expansion over the years) and found out/wasnt told in advance that it was a paralegal. Yep...she wasnt up to much in the event:cool:.

The clues that it might be a paralegal were in just how big the firm now was (ie big enough that it might well go in for such specialisation - it's a huge firm).

Also the cost. I was surprised at how low the cost I was quoted was. It was around the £300 mark and I was surprised and I think it was probably not far off being on a par with what a conveyancing firm would have charged me. I didnt click as to why it was so low - as I wasnt told anything about that. So I just assumed I'd have a solicitor - as I'd had all those years previously.

stator

The only hope you would have of a claim is if your solicitor acted negligently. ie if they told YOU you were exchanging and completing on the same day, but they told the other party they were just exchanging on that day, or didn't make it clear about completion. In order to make a claim on your solicitor you would have to prove this was the case. So you would need a copy of all the communication between the two solicitors.
However I think this is pretty unlikely to be the case.
If you wish your sale to go ahead smoothly with the rearranged dates, I wouldn't annoy your solicitor at this stage.

eddddy

I find it hard to believe that a solicitor would advise you to exchange and complete on the same day - unless there is a very significant factor that you have not mentioned.

Conveyancing solicitors don't generally advise people how to live their lives.

Your solicitor might have advised that they could exchange and complete on the same day, if that's what you want to do.

What were the exact words that the solicitor used?

davidmcn

Tahlullah wrote: »

Are you sure it was a solicitor dealing with the sale? People use the word liberally. In many cases, it isn't a solicitor undertaking the conveyance, it is a Paralegal under the supervision of a Supervising Solicitor. The detail would be in the original Confirmation of Advice letter you received.

If this is correct, then you may have a case because it is possible you were 'told' it would be ok, but the Supervising Solicitor may not have reviewed the case file at that point.

I don't think that would make a difference to the firm's liability (if any). Clients are entitled to rely on the advice they're given without first checking the qualifications of who they're talking to.
But as I alluded to above, there's a difference between "everything's going to be fine" meaning "everything's probably going to be fine" and meaning "we guarantee nothing can possibly go wrong".

moneyistooshorttomention

stator wrote: »

If you wish your sale to go ahead smoothly with the rearranged dates, I wouldn't annoy your solicitor at this stage.

I read it that the sale has now completed and they are in the house.