Solicitor issue

gemmy26wales

Hiya, contracts have been exchanged today with completion on Tuesday. My solicitor rang me to say this has happened then asked me if the mortgage company were aware of the price being reduced?

Trying to cut a long story:
Handed in my documents which included mortgage offer in April (confirmed - not a mortgage in principle)

The price was reduced by £500 post survey. Solicitor told me to ring mortgage company which I did. They said it shouldn't be too much of an issue but needed the solicitor to contact them directly with correct figures. This was communicated twice by myself via email to the solicitor.

She didn't do it.

So now, the mortgage company have been given a letter today by my solicitor and they're working on it.

Original price was £77,000 now it's £76,500

has this happened to anyone before? I'm going away tomorrow so left in limbo now as to whether the mortgage will still go ahead.

Any help or words of wisdom will be greatly received.

G_M

Is your solicitor also acting for the mortgage lender, or is there a separate solicitor acting for them (unusual)?



If your solicitor is acting for both, it was his responsibility to advise his client (the mortgage lender) of the change in purchase price.


Escalate this within the solicitor's firm - they've messed up. Check the complaints procedure. In a largerr firm this may involve a specialist complaints handler, or a Senior Partner. But get your complaint on record.


If the mortgage funds fail to arrive for Completion, as a result of this, you need firmly to establish asap that responsibility lies with the solicitor.

gemmy26wales

Hiya, when I saw her on Monday she said she was acting for both myself and hsbc.

She's basically saying that she assumed that my mortgage offer was only a mortgage in principle, despite numerous emails telling her that the mortgage offer was the finalised one. Apparently it was unusual for me to get the mortgage soo quickly and she's made a lot of "assumptions".

I've spoken to hsbc who said they've received the letter this afternoon from the solicitor and they have someone allocated to my case.

ThePants999

She believed that you only had a mortgage in principle - and yet exchanged contracts anyway? And she's working on behalf of the lender as well as you? You MUST have misunderstood something, otherwise that would probably be the worst incompetence in a conveyancing solicitor I've ever heard of.

m0bov

There is more to this. OP, have you really exchanged? I doubt it

If you have and the mortgage is pulled (suspected fraud), then you are scre*ed so I'd be onto the sols first thing in the morning. Worst case, your vendor sues the pants of you.

G_M

ThePants999 wrote: »

She believed that you only had a mortgage in principle - and yet exchanged contracts anyway? And she's working on behalf of the lender as well as you? You MUST have misunderstood something, otherwise that would probably be the worst incompetence in a conveyancing solicitor I've ever heard of.

Indeed. If
* she's acting for the lender and
* believed you only had a MIP
then to Exchange Contracts woul have been professional incompetance of a major sort!


So either she telling porkies, or you've msunderstood or she really IS incompetant!


Which is it?

gemmy26wales

Offer of 77,000 accepted middle of march. Had a mortgage in principle for 72000 to show estate agent for flat to go off market.

Mortgage approved end of march for 69000.

Dropped all docs off to solicitor middle of April and paid for the searches.

After survey report towards end of April it highlighted a few issues which resulted in £500 knocked off price.

Solicitor said she didn't have Copy of mortgage so that was forwarded on.

Solicitor told me to phone mortgage company to say about reduction. They said it shouldn't be too much of an issues but they wanted solicitor to confirm new price in writing.

I emailed solicitor to say that she needs to get in touch. She emailed back saying, that's strange, as it's on,y a mortgage in principle. I emailed back to say, no the mortgage was approved end of march. She emailed back to say that it was strange but not unusual for a mortgage to be approved so early on, but she said she would contact them.

Heard nothing back so assumed all was ok.

Had a call last Thursday to say they wanted to exchange and complete by today. I had an appointment Monday to go through the paperwork which highlighted some issues. Issues were resolved so transferred the deposit etc yesterday.

Had a call today to say that contracts had been exchanged, then she said, "just to make sure, you did make the mortgage company aware of the new purchase price?" Again I said, no, you had to contact them in wiring. She said she would get a letter sent out today.

I phoned the mortgage guys and they said they had already received the letter (assuming it was via fax/email) and that someone had been assigned to my case. Also forwarded on the original emails to the solicitor which were sent end of April, clarifying that she needed to get in contact to confirm new price.

So I haven't missunderstood anything. I couldn't of been any clearer in my communication to her regarding this.

G_M

gemmy26wales wrote: »

Offer of 77,000 accepted middle of march.

Mortgage approved end of march for 69000.
....
After survey report towards end of April it highlighted a few issues which resulted in £500 knocked off price.

This was a private surey your aranged independanly I assume?
The mortgage Valuation survey must have been back in middle of March. Quick work!


But I can't believe a £500 drop in purchase price is going to worry the lender much. It's more a matter of how long it takes than whether it will cause the mortgage to be withdrawn.

gemmy26wales

The survey was a homebuyers report done through the mortgage company so it meant that I had the valuation and report done by the same person.

GrumpyDil

Hm that still doesn't make sense because the mortgage offer would not have been issued until after the valuation survey.

Either way it was the solicitor 's responsibility to make sure the mortgage company were clear on the price being paid.

Tiglet2

Solicitor said she didn't have Copy of mortgage so that was forwarded on

So...... forwarded on by who?? I ask this because the solicitor gets their own copy of your mortgage offer directly from the lender. A copy forwarded on by you is not acceptable.

I can't help thinking that for some reason your solicitor never received the full offer from the lender and only had the "in principle" one on file and one possibly forwarded on by you, particularly as a reduction in the purchase price would necessitate an amended offer. If the address of the solicitor is wrong on the offer, it also won't be accepted and would need to be reissued. What I can't understand is why the solicitor would exchange without this vital piece of documentation?? Files are checked and checked before solicitors exchange, because it is legally binding once they have done so. But yes, the solicitor should have checked the offer with the lender.