Help! House Purchase About to Fall Through!

AdamK

Hi All,

Thank you all for your advice.

There has been a significant back and forth from our solicitor to the vendors solicitor.

Here's some of the exchange.

Their Solicitor :

We confirm that we have carried out our due diligence on our clients as required by our governing body and AML legislation. We have no reason to believe that they are not the registered proprietors. We will get a reverse release and offer you exchange.

Our Solicitor responds with :

Further to your email below, please let us have you clear and unequivocal confirmation that you have carried out all the necessary due diligence to establish your clients' identity and that they are indeed the registered proprietors of the property. If you do not let us have this we cannot proceed any further with this matter.

We have reported to our client, have a 10% deposit and will be able to exchange once you have given us this confirmation.

Ultimately all of this back and forth wrangling has resulted in none of the Solicitors agreeing to anything and as such the chain has now collapsed.

None of the solicitors are agreeing to budge - we've pleaded with ours but they aren't willing to help. They ultimately work for the Lender.

I guess it's too late for me to change my Conveyancer also?

Thanks all....but it looks like this house purchase won't be going through.

aliby21

That's nuts! sorry, nothing constructive to say, just really sorry OP. What the f**k are your solicitors on?

kinger101

Again, an entirely reasonable response from the vendors' solicitor. I'd be in their office at 9 am on Monday morning. Tell them that they have received a satisfactory answer regarding the vendors' solicitor re. compliance with the AML already, and you'll raise a formal complaint if they don't exchange.

http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/for-the-public/using-a-solicitor/complaints/

Thrugelmir

Margot123 wrote: »

Checking ID is a basic 'tick box' exercise.
So long as the boxes have been ticked, what is the solicitor's issue?

If this an attempt at committing fraud. Then it's the OP's solicitors insurers that ultimately foot the bill. Was a high profile case it seems just over a year ago. Where a million pounds was the settlement. Setting a precedent too for future instances. Tenants becoming the owner appear to be increasingly common. Ouch for next years renewal premium .

Smodlet

What do your solicitors want, !!!!!!? A DNA sample? I'd ditch them if it is not too late, certainly never use them again. They will still charge you for work done to date when they are the ones who broke the chain. What do they think they have insurance for? What a world we live in.

davidmcn

Thrugelmir wrote: »

If this an attempt at committing fraud. Then it's the OP's solicitors insurers that ultimately foot the bill. Was a high profile case it seems just over a year ago. Where a million pounds was the settlement. Setting a precedent too for future instances. Tenants becoming the owner appear to be increasingly common. Ouch for next years renewal premium .

But the OP's solicitor is under no obligation even to ask the question they asked, never mind demand the answer they expected. Would be different if there was something actually suspicious about the transaction.

steampowered

I am sorry for the situation you've faced - how awful.

Personally, I would be putting in a formal written complaint to the solicitors, and then to the Legal Ombudsman if they do not respond appropriately.

Frankly I would also be tempted to sue them for lost costs through the small claims track though that might be difficult.

It sounds like they have not tried very hard to resolve the situation. It would be legitimate to contact them expressing extreme disappointing that the chain collapsed due to the conveyancers' inability to resolve a very simple issue and ask them to (1) confirm whether they will be willing to provide the exact same confirmation to future buyer of your property, and (2) explain what action they took to try and resolve the issue, for example whether they spoke to the vendor's solicitors.