Purchased property not owned by vendor..

navrav

Hi TBagpus - we have decided to do exactly what you are suggesting.

We are seeing another solicitor on Monday to ask them to take over the case and help us word the official complaint.

What our current solicitor has told us about raising a complaint is:

'If I log your email as a formal complaint at this stage this will entail me immediately calling for your file to carry out a review thereof and I am allowed 8 weeks in which to deal with the matter. However as "The" Post Completion Team will be unable to access your file whilst it is in my possession undergoing review this will inevitably cause a delay in in conclusion of any outstanding post completion formalities'

'as I am on vacation from the 1-22 December I would estimate that it would be 5-6 weeks before I have the opportunity to carry out my file review ..and I am allowed 8 weeks in which to deal with the matter. '



After raising an informal complaint as they suggested, we have had no information from them - other than from the solicitor who dealt with the conveyancing saying 'I have not got the time or resource to get involved.'

The fact that neither pieces of land have been registered in our name surprises me - as you say I would have thought that the part of the one he did own at least would have been transferred. I suspect the underlying issue is that my solicitors did not check the land registry themselves and relied on the paperwork from the vendors solicitor - the origin of which its is dubious at best as the title number on the document doesn't match the plan on it.

I suspect we need the file to word the complaint as to be honest we really can't tell what they have/haven't done without seeing it. All the information I have had is through talks with the land registry who I have to say have been very impressive with helping me with my enquiries.

Elle_Woods

aneary wrote: »

The legal ombudsmen is the SRA.

Just a quick point, the Legal Ombudsman is not the SRA. The SRA is the solicitors' regulator/professional body, and the Legal Ombudsman is the body that deals with service complaints from clients of lots of different regulated legal service providers (e.g. both solicitors and barristers). The OP is right that after the internal complaint they should make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, which will then refer any matters it thinks amount to a breach of the SRA Code of Conduct on to the SRA.

From the SRA website:

"The Legal Ombudsman deals with complaints about poor service. Poor service includes failures to keep you properly informed about your legal matter. The SRA deals with failures to comply with professional obligations such as a duty to keep your affairs confidential or duty to act honestly and with integrity. Some failures to comply with professional obligations can also amount to poor service. The Legal Ombudsman's website will help identify how you can best receive help. If you report poor service to the Legal Ombudsman and they consider it amounts to a failure to comply with professional obligations they will also pass the matter to the SRA for us to consider. The Legal Ombudsman may direct a firm or individual pay you compensation for poor service. The SRA cannot award compensation to you. Our powers are regulatory and include taking action against the firm or individual concerned such as helping them to comply with their obligations or, where the issue is serious, controlling the way they work in the future."

sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page (apologies as a newbie I can't post proper links)

Good luck OP for your meeting on Monday with the new solicitor.