Solicitor overpaid us - advice welcome (Sorry it's long winded)

Claudie

A few months ago we sold our UK home and emigrated to Canada. The solicitor we had used before had moved cities so on the advice of our agent, we used their national firm of solictors (which turned out to be a flaming nightmare).

The solicitors lost our paperwork, never returned calls, made a mistake concerning planning permission and overall were rude and unhelpful. We complained to the estate agent several times and if it weren't for one really good agent, I don't think we ever would have completed.

Fast forward two months and out of the blue I get a nasty email from a collections person asking for £375 unpaid agents fees. I emailed back saying I had no idea what she was talking about as we had completed a while back and all papers in order and I referred her back to the agent.

I then get an email from our estate agency saying our lawyer didn't pay them the proper fees and we owed them £375. After some to and fro I managed to explain to them that we had a completion statement saying they were paid. The agent mailed back (they don't have our Canadaian address) stating that our agreement was with them and we didn't pay and they would proceed with court - I referred them back to the solicitor.

Got a two line email from the solicitor - no apology, nothing - saying that she was on holiday when we completed and her office didn't hold back the correct fees for the EA and I was to send her £375 immediately. I think the surprise of it all combined with her lack of apology and explanation really got my back up.

I am tempted not to pay them but would like to know where we stand legally. Does anyone know? I am tempted to write back telling her it is her mistake she can cover it.

Any advice welcome and thanks if you got this far

C.

GreyCat

Hi Claudie,

I'm not an expert but I am fairly sure that as you have a contract with the estate agent and they've fulfilled their side, you have to pay them the full amount due.

The solicitor's mistake is a separate issue, but I'm not sure if you have any comeback. To make a claim for negligence I think you would have to show you had lost out financially. If you pay the estate agent you will be no worse off than you would have been if the solicitor had got it right to start with, so there is no obvious loss.

It's tempting to demand that the solicitor pays the difference, but if they don't agree that still leaves you owing the money to the estate agent, and the estate agent will (correctly) continue to pursue you for the debt. You could perhaps try the complaints procedures for the solicitor's company, and see if they will rebate some of their fee because of the mistake?

But others may be able to provide more legal details.

GreyCat

devils_advocate

You are still due the money. You will have to pay it, legally. However, because of the "change in your circumstances", you may have to tell them that you can pay it off at £1 a week.

dolce_vita

Change your email adress and forget about it.

Claudie

GreyCat wrote: »

Hi Claudie,

I'm not an expert but I am fairly sure that as you have a contract with the estate agent and they've fulfilled their side, you have to pay them the full amount due.

The solicitor's mistake is a separate issue, but I'm not sure if you have any comeback. To make a claim for negligence I think you would have to show you had lost out financially. If you pay the estate agent you will be no worse off than you would have been if the solicitor had got it right to start with, so there is no obvious loss.

It's tempting to demand that the solicitor pays the difference, but if they don't agree that still leaves you owing the money to the estate agent, and the estate agent will (correctly) continue to pursue you for the debt. You could perhaps try the complaints procedures for the solicitor's company, and see if they will rebate some of their fee because of the mistake?

But others may be able to provide more legal details.

GreyCat

Thanks for that - and actually it was pretty spot on. I just got off the phone with a friend of a friend who is a solicitor and he said pretty much that. Bite our lip and pay it as the agent may sue us and as we aren't there we would lose and could end up with a judgement to pay all sorts of fees, interest whatever.

I am tempted to name and shame the firm but won't - what I will say is that I would never ever use a national chain again and I should have followed my instincts and found a new local firm that I could have dealt with in person.

Thanks
C

Claudie

devils_advocate wrote: »

You are still due the money. You will have to pay it, legally. However, because of the "change in your circumstances", you may have to tell them that you can pay it off at £1 a week.

Actually a good idea but right now we are buying a new place and quite honestly I just can't be bothered. But love the idea.

Claudie

dolce_vita wrote: »

Change your email adress and forget about it.

That was my first idea :O)

RabbitMad

If you live in Canada and don't have a UK address the EA hasn't a hope in hell of getting anything out of you.

They can't sue you in a small claims court as you don't have a UK address to serve the writ on.

If you can live with yourself just ignore it. If not do you have any money in the UK with which to pay the EA because otherwise you'll incur currency fees.

Claudie

RabbitMad wrote: »

If you live in Canada and don't have a UK address the EA hasn't a hope in hell of getting anything out of you.

They can't sue you in a small claims court as you don't have a UK address to serve the writ on.

If you can live with yourself just ignore it. If not do you have any money in the UK with which to pay the EA because otherwise you'll incur currency fees.

The solicitor I spoke to here said they could go to court without an address and would win judgement as we aren't there to defend. We still have a pension and a few bits there in the bank and I don't want any potential CCJ's or similar.

Still makes my blood boil though that they never so much as apologised. They had our email addy to write to so they could have at least done that.

RabbitMad

Really. I can't see how thay can launch an action against you without an address to server the papers on. Its as simple as that.

Winning Judgement? What would that give them - certainly not the money.

Are you certain that the sols made a mistake and passed back the £375 to you? Have you checked all the figures to see where the mistake occured.