Solicitor closed down, possibly with our mortgage funds.

Chloboux

Where do I start....

We are first time buyers and what was meant to be an easy process (no chain) has turned into a nightmare.

My mortgage advisor appointed us a solicitor and trusted that he would be a good one. Within about a week I started growing suspicious. I spoke to him on the phone once and he took ages to reply to emails. The owner of the properly informed me that her solicitor was having trouble getting through to him and so did the estate agents. We received most of the information second hand from the owner of the property, when her solicitor would eventually get through. If I ever called I would get fobbed off and told he was on another call and would call me back but never did.

To cut a long and boring story short we pushed and pushed and finally had a completion date in sight (Friday last week). On the Wednesday we tried to transfer our deposit and it bounced back, called my bank the next morning and they said the account must be closed. We were supposed to be going to the solicitors that day to sign our contracts so thought we would just go there instead and ask them. When I typed the name into google it said “permanently closed” this instantly screamed alarm bells but we went there anyway. Got to the door it was locked, a man then came and tried to turn us away and we firmly explained we had booked time off work to sign that day. He convinced us that our solisitor would sort it. We left feeling very frustrated. By the afternoon we had a call from another firm explaining that they had now been shut down and I needed to appoint a new solicitor. I was very stressed but the owner of the house was fantastic and reassured me that it would all be okay.

So fast forward to Saturday and I get an email saying “mortgage complete”!! I forwarded this on to my advisor and he said it might be an automated message and that I should forward it to my solicitor. I phoned my solicitor and they said as soon as they had my file they’d look in to it.

Sooo this is where it gets horrible..... I received a letter today saying my first mortgage payment is due the 1st of August for a house I don’t even own!! So it looks as thought my old dodgy solicitors withdrew the funds early which is most likely frozen in their bank account!!

I’m going to ring the mortgage company Monday but I can’t sleep because someone told me it might take months to get back and I would still have to pay!!

Has anyone else been in this situation?

Also my new solicitors are wanting an extra £200 odd more than what the other solicitors asked for originally and they are charging more for searches that have already been done? I really don’t get it, I’m so confused and stressed.

Some advise and guidance would be greatly appreciated at this time.

TIA

Chloe xx

P.s almost forget to say that when meeting with my new solicitor she informed me that our old solicitor has been at a new firm for a few weeks!! Meaning that he was pretending to be working for his fathers firm that got closed down and explains why we could never get gold of him (only by email).... surley this is dishonest and I should be able to complain about him to the SRA?

Armorica

Chloboux wrote: »

To cut a long and boring story short we pushed and pushed and finally had a completion date in sight (Friday last week). On the Wednesday we tried to transfer our deposit and it bounced back, called my bank the next morning and they said the account must be closed. So he doesn't have your deposit.


By the afternoon we had a call from another firm explaining that they had now been shut down and I needed to appoint a new solicitor. This sounds very odd. Another solicitor just randomly called you and knew you were moving home and needed a new solicitor?! This is calling out scam.

So fast forward to Saturday and I get an email saying “mortgage complete”!!
An email from who? Your bank? Your new solicitor?

I forwarded this on to my advisor and he said it might be an automated message and that I should forward it to my solicitor. I phoned my solicitor and they said as soon as they had my file they’d look in to it.
Your new solictor? Your old solicitor? If it's the new one, where are they getting your file from?

Sooo this is where it gets horrible..... I received a letter today saying my first mortgage payment is due the 1st of August for a house I don’t even own!!
From your bank? Well, they definitely sent your mortgage somewhere. Which solicitor did you tell them to send it to? The new one or the old one? If it was the old one, shouldn't it have bounced back too?

So it looks as thought my old dodgy solicitors withdrew the funds early which is most likely frozen in their bank account!!
Umm how? Banks don't send mortgage super early - often it's time to arrange a day or two before completion.

I’m going to ring the mortgage company Monday but I can’t sleep because someone told me it might take months to get back and I would still have to pay!!
"someone"? The high priority is talking to your mortgage provider. And the seller/their solicitor as you seem to be on good terms with them to ask them what they've seen from their side - I assume they don't consider the house sold!


Also my new solicitors are wanting an extra £200 odd more than what the other solicitors asked for originally and they are charging more for searches that have already been done? I really don’t get it, I’m so confused and stressed.
Well, solicitors charge different prices. And they don't have the results of the searches previously made, so you'll need to get them done again


P.s almost forget to say that when meeting with my new solicitor she informed me that our old solicitor has been at a new firm for a few weeks!!
Well. If he's actually a registered/qualified solicitor, I'd suggest you speak to his new firm. If half of the above stuff is true, they may be able to 'help'. Either to get your file out of him, ask about the money...or potentially just fire him.

Meaning that he was pretending to be working for his fathers firm that got closed down and explains why we could never get gold of him (only by email).... surley this is dishonest and I should be able to complain about him to the SRA?
Yes. If he's actually a registered solicitor and not a complete scam artist.

Also worth adding that all mortgage/completion type funds should have been paid into client funds account.

Can you explain more slowly/with better details? See questions above.

https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/handbook/accountsrules/part4/content.page provide information about client accounts.

http://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page is important to read through as well.

Chloboux

Thank you so much for your reply. Sorry it!!!8217;s so confusing I!!!8217;ll try to explain better by answering your questions.....

No they don!!!8217;t have my deposit (thank god) it bounced the night before we were supposed to sign the contracts. I!!!8217;m assuming their account got closed before the SRA went in to close them down.



Nope it wasn!!!8217;t a random solicitor, it was a firm acting on behalf of the SRA to ensure that clients were informed etc. I checked this by phoning the SRA and they confirmed this. They advised me to appoint a new solicitor and then they would send my file on to them.

I received the email saying !!!8220;mortgage complete!!!8221; from my bank. My mortgage advisor advised me to send the email to my new solicitor who are receiving my file from the firm acting on behalf of the SRA.

I received the letter from my mortgage company.
My old solicitors must have requested the money before they got closed down but they never told me they was doing so. Maybe they don!!!8217;t need to though, I don!!!8217;t know how this part of the process goes. Maybe it wasn!!!8217;t requested early but this is why I!!!8217;m confused... I was meant to complete the house purchase on the Friday and thier account had already been frozen on the Wednesday therefore they must have requested and got the money by the Tuesday if that makes sense?

Yes this !!!8220;someone!!!8221; was my friend who knew someone it had happened to but you are right I shouldn!!!8217;t listen to horror stories until I!!!8217;ve spoken to the mortgage company. Yep on good terms with the seller and nope she doesn!!!8217;t consider the house to be sold we were both gutted that it didn!!!8217;t complete on the Friday. She has just got her solicitor to send all the necessary paper work over to my new solicitor.

I paid the old solicitors money for the searches, is there anyway I can claim that back? Also I have the searches from them, can!!!8217;t I just forward them on to my new solicitors or doesn!!!8217;t it work like that?

unfortunately he!!!8217;s gone to a firm in the next town over and I don!!!8217;t know the name of it but I sure as hell will be trying to find out. This has caused me undue stress and anxiety. It sounds as if he knew that his dad!!!8217;s firm was about to get shut down and he could have informed me so that I could have gone to another firm instead.

I hope all this makes sense, I!!!8217;m sorry it doesn!!!8217;t. It!!!8217;s late and I!!!8217;m very stressed.

Thank you soooo much for your response though.

Chloboux

Sorry I don!!!8217;t know what all those random numbers are in the last reply! I!!!8217;m new to this forum. I!!!8217;ll try to post again

Chloboux

Thank you so much for your reply. Sorry it was so confusing I will try to explain better by answering your questions.....

No they don’t have my deposit (thank god) it bounced the night before we were supposed to sign the contracts. I am assuming their account got closed before the SRA went in to close them down.



Nope it wasn’t a random solicitor, it was a firm acting on behalf of the SRA to ensure that clients were informed etc. I checked this by phoning the SRA and they confirmed this. They advised me to appoint a new solicitor and then they would send my file on to them.

I received the email saying “mortgage complete” from my bank. My mortgage advisor advised me to send the email to my new solicitor who are receiving my file from the firm acting on behalf of the SRA.

I received the letter from my mortgage company.
My old solicitors must have requested the money before they got closed down but they never told me they was doing so. Maybe they don’t need to though, I don’t know how this part of the process goes. Maybe it wasn’t requested early but this is why I’m confused... I was meant to complete the house purchase on the Friday and thier account had already been frozen on the Wednesday therefore they must have requested and got the money by the Tuesday if that makes sense?

Yes this ‘someone’ was my friend who knew someone it had happened to but you are right I shouldn’t listen to horror stories until I have spoken to the mortgage company. Yep on good terms with the seller and nope she doesn’t consider the house to be sold we were both gutted that it did not complete on the Friday. She has just got her solicitor to send all the necessary paper work over to my new solicitor.

I paid the old solicitors money for the searches, is there anyway I can claim that back? Also I have the searches from them, can’t I just forward them on to my new solicitors or doesn’t it work like that?

unfortunately he’s gone to a firm in the next town over and I don’t know the name of it but I sure as hell will be trying to find out. This has caused me undue stress and anxiety. It sounds as if he knew that his dad’s firm was about to get shut down and he could have informed me so that I could have gone to another firm instead.

I hope all this makes sense, I’m sorry it doesn’t, It’s late and I’m very stressed.

Thank you soooo much for your response though.

buglawton

Chloboux wrote: »

Sorry I don!!!8217;t know what all those random numbers are in the last reply! I!!!8217;m new to this forum. I!!!8217;ll try to post again

The numbers are an MSE site bug that’s been around for about 6 months. MSE management know about it but refuse to fix it (must think it’s unimportant).

DCFC79

buglawton wrote: »

The numbers are an MSE site bug that’s been around for about 6 months. MSE management know about it but refuse to fix it (must think it’s unimportant).

Its on the list but not priority I believe.

moneyistooshorttomention

Re the typing glitches - I believe it's the apostrophes that are doing this and when it's used on a Tablet??

So - unless/until MSE get their act together either:
- don't use apostrophes
or
-don't type it on a tablet

AdrianC

Chloboux wrote: »

My mortgage advisor appointed us a solicitor

Point of order - no, he did not. He recommended one to you, and you accepted that recommendation by instructing the solicitor yourself.

and trusted that he would be a good one. Within about a week I started growing suspicious. I spoke to him on the phone once and he took ages to reply to emails.

So why did you continue to use them? At that time, it would have been trivially easy to change.

To cut a long and boring story short we pushed and pushed and finally had a completion date in sight (Friday last week).

Have you actually exchanged yet?

On the Wednesday we tried to transfer our deposit and it bounced back, called my bank the next morning and they said the account must be closed. We were supposed to be going to the solicitors that day to sign our contracts

So you cannot possibly have exchanged.

So fast forward to Saturday and I get an email saying “mortgage complete”!!

From the lender?

I phoned my solicitor and they said as soon as they had my file they’d look in to it.

Your new solicitor?

Sooo this is where it gets horrible..... I received a letter today saying my first mortgage payment is due the 1st of August for a house I don’t even own!!

...for the money that your lender has paid to your solicitor...

So it looks as thought my old dodgy solicitors withdrew the funds early which is most likely frozen in their bank account!!

They didn't "withdraw it early" - they will always draw the mortgage money down a day or two in advance, because you do not want to find out there's a problem stopping you from completing.

Also my new solicitors are wanting an extra £200 odd more than what the other solicitors asked for originally and they are charging more for searches that have already been done?

They don't have the search results. The other solicitor was clearly not charging enough to be profitable or viable.

surley this is dishonest and I should be able to complain about him to the SRA?

Mmm. Maybe the SRA will close the old firm down... Oh, wait.


I suspect the actual funds will also have been bounced back, and everything will sort itself out. If not, they should be in a ringfenced client account. If the solicitor has been dipping into the client account, then everything jumps up a very big notch of seriousness.

G_M

Armorica wrote: »

Can you explain more slowly/with better details? See questions above.

https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/handbook/accountsrules/part4/content.page provide information about client accounts.

http://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page is important to read through as well.

Armorica has pointed you to the SRA and you've been in contact with them.


There's nothing we can add. Liaise with the SRA and your mortgage lender.


and read:

* A solicitor has closed down

Armorica

G_M wrote: »

Armorica has pointed you to the SRA and you've been in contact with them.


There's nothing we can add. Liaise with the SRA and your mortgage lender.


and read:

* A solicitor has closed down

There is plenty more to add.

Good - a firm acting on behalf of the SRA is a good thing. And you used the SRA number on their website to confirm?

You need to ask your mortgage company for exact details of the payment - amount, date it was sent, and by which channel (Bacs, FPS, CHAPS), date it was due to arrive (CHAPS/FPS are same day, Bacs is three day) and the sort code and account number they sent it to.

And ask them if they would mind freezing your mortgage payments until it’s sorted out. (A good lender should do this, taking a long term perspective). You may need to provide evidence that the solicitor has closed down.

The old solicitor is closed - by definition probably not going to be able to claim money back Best bet is getting hold of the file that has the results in.

Read GM’s link to the SRA closing down page as well https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/solicitor-closed-down.page

And https://www.sra.org.uk/claim/ if the records are badly kept (sounding likely) it will take time to get access to the funds and paperwork unfortunately. For some services this isn’t time critical. Unfortunately yours is.

And http://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/enforcement/intervention-tribunal/intervention-reasons.page it does sound like an intervention - but SRA will be able to clarify for you. You may be spending some time on the phone to them…

One option is asking your lender if they would pay your mortgage again (really don’t know how likely that will be to work) if they can get assurance from the intervention agent that it’s just a matter of time before the original payment will be returned to them.

The compensation fund should be available to you https://www.sra.org.uk/sra/decision-making/guidance/consumer-payments-compensation-fund.page (it lists theft of sale proceeds, so mortgage proceeds should apply to). Ask the SRA about that. In particular, one of their pages says “If clients are unable to wait for the distribution of money held on trust, they may claim on the Compensation Fund.”

(Don’t worry about the glitched numbers - it’s still easy enough to read the post).