Solicitor failed to inform us about our land being conservation area

ronniemac123

Hi!
Wonder if anyone else had a similar problem, or knows what we should do next. 6 months ago we have purchased a house with 3 acres of land and were very excited about being able to live the rural life dream with our kids.
About a month after the purchase though, we received a letter informing us that the land we purchased is SSSI conservation area and that we are not able to rotivate it or grow any trees or fruit on it. We contacted the solicitor but they mentioned over the phone they don't think this should be much of an issue and that she will get back to us soon.
5 months of solicitor stalling passed, and we finally managed to make an appointment with them where they told us that their unofficial advice would be to ignore the documents and just do what we want or sell the house. They also admitted they knew about the area being a conservation area, but they forgot to mention this to us.
We were quite angry after this meeting as we were expecting that at least they would offer us some legal help applying for permissions to plant a few fruit trees and put up a polly tunnel, and at that point we would be happy with it. After that meeting we put in a complaint listing how we believe they behaved in unprofessional manner to which they replied that they are unable to help us any further and that we should seek help elsewhere.
I don't think we were unreasonable throughout the process and I'm quite shocked at their behaviour. Has anyone got any experience in these situations? We are planning to make a complaint to law ombudsman now but feeling a bit helpless.

Many Thanks in advance!
Ron

elsien

What does the written complaint response actually say? Have they acknowledged they made any mistakes?

davidmcn

ronniemac123 wrote: »

the land we purchased is SSSI conservation area

Just to clarify - is it an SSSI, a Conservation Area, or both? I am guessing that if

we are not able to rotivate it or grow any trees or fruit on it

that it's at least an SSSI. If it's merely a Conservation Area, I'm not sure that's such a significant point that a solicitor has to highlight it to you.

HampshireH

Might sound like a silly question but wasn't this information on your searches?

My local authority searches identifies whether any conservation area applies quite clearly.

ronniemac123

thanks for the responses!
the area is an SSSI (A Site of Special Scientific Interest)

the solicitor acknowledged that there was an "omission" on their part in the letter before our complaint: "I made a not of this entry within my title notes when reviewing the title deeds, property certificates and searches. I did not raise this with *sellers solicitor* and I did not pass this information to you"

the response to our complaint only acknowledged the receipt of our letter and "In light of our meeting and your letter I suggest you seek advice elsewhere"

HampshireH

But did you not see it on the searches?

dlmcr

When you reviewed the title deeds yourself, did you make a note of this information, or did you in fact not review the deeds and instead assume your solicitor would tell you, since after all, this is what you pay them to do?

ronniemac123

there was nothing about this on searches. I went through them before the purchase, and again after we got the SSSI documents, as I was concerned that I missed it not knowing what SSSI was. But alas, no info about it anywhere.

ronniemac123

no, none of the searches mentioned this.

Mojisola

ronniemac123 wrote: »

there was nothing about this on searches. I went through them before the purchase, and again after we got the SSSI documents, as I was concerned that I missed it not knowing what SSSI was. But alas, no info about it anywhere.

You read through the SSSI documents but didn't think to google or ask your solicitor what SSSI meant?

jackomdj

ronniemac123 wrote: »

thanks for the responses!
the area is an SSSI (A Site of Special Scientific Interest)

the solicitor acknowledged that there was an "omission" on their part in the letter before our complaint: "I made a not of this entry within my title notes when reviewing the title deeds, property certificates and searches. I did not raise this with *sellers solicitor* and I did not pass this information to you"

the response to our complaint only acknowledged the receipt of our letter and "In light of our meeting and your letter I suggest you seek advice elsewhere"

I think they are admitting liability and expecting you to hire a solicitor to investigate their handling. It could be that you would not have bought the property/land or reduced your offer had they informed you of their findings.
Good luck.