Conveyancing woes (Power of Attorney)

longey

My mother, who lives with me, suffers from progressive vascular dementia.

I have been helping to sell her house, and I was advised by our family solicitor that I should have power of attorney to handle this. Therefore a Lasting Power of Attorney for Property and Financial Affairs was created and registered with the Public Guardian and a certified copy of this has been provided to the convenyancer.

We are now quite close to completing the sale. However, the conveyancer is has requested to speak with her to "go through security with her and just provide her with an update". So I arranged for her to call, while I was out (because I work during office hours). The call caused serious confusion and upset to my mother and she cannot remember what was said, so I called the conveyancer and they said they have asked her for:

· Copy of her birth certificate
· Copy of her bank statement
· A letter signed confirming she is happy for us to send the funds to that account .

Regarding her birth certificate, she does not know where this is. It might be possible to find it but given we are hoping to complete in the next few days it is highly inconvenient.

Regarding her bank details, this is also fine, though it is very inconvenient at this late stage - especially since they originally asked for MY details because they said they would pay it to me, and we are due to complete any day now.

Is the conveyancer correct in insisting on speaking with her and requesting these things from her, given that I have a Lasting Power of Attorney ?

davidmcn

They shouldn't require to speak to her given that she has granted a POA (the whole point is that you should be able to deal with matters if she is no longer able even to speak, never mind understand the conversation).

It is however reasonable (and necessary) for them to check her identity, though irritating if they didn't do so at the outset. Did they give any other options for ID? Birth certificate only proves that someone of that name was born at a particular date and place, not that the person waving it is that person - anybody can get a copy from the registers (which may be what you have to do if you can't find it).

danlewi2

They should speak direct to you - if you have registered the POA with them. You should register it with her bank - so the monies can be still paid to your mum - but you will have control over the account.

xylophone

they said they would pay it to me,

Not really a good idea- it is your mother's house and the money should be paid to her account (which presumably you operate as Attorney).

It is very important that your mother's finances should be kept entirely separate from yours - I know this because a relative has PoA for his relative.

Is the conveyancer correct in insisting on speaking with her and requesting these things from her, given that I have a Lasting Power of Attorney ?

Did you explain to the conveyancer that your mother has dementia and is easily upset? If you did I would make a complaint about this to the firm.


I do recall that even though my relative had PoA for his relative (donor), the solicitor required the donor to sign the transfer of her property - the donor was though fully compos mentis at that time.

Copy of her birth certificate

You might be able to get a copy of the Birth Certificate quickly through the priority service.

https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/most_customers_want_to_know.asp#PriorityService

longey

xylophone wrote: »

Not really a good idea- it is your mother's house and the money should be paid to her account (which presumably you operate as Attorney).

It is very important that your mother's finances should be kept entirely separate from yours - I know this because a relative has PoA for his relative.

Understood. Thank you/. As mentioned, it's not a problem for us - just an annoyance at the last minute (we accepted their conveyancing quotation 99 days ago !!!)

Did you explain to the conveyancer that your mother has dementia and is easily upset? If you did I would make a complaint about this to the firm.

YES ! 3 months ago I sent them the notice of registration of the LPOA received from the Public Guardian, and our family solicitor subsequently sent them the full LPOA (certified copy), and I told them several times by email that she has dementia, firstly on 19 Sep and then pretty much every time that I contacted them afterwards

I do recall that even though my relative had PoA for his relative (donor), the solicitor required the donor to sign the transfer of her property - the donor was though fully compos mentis at that time.



You might be able to get a copy of the Birth Certificate quickly through the priority service.

https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/most_customers_want_to_know.asp#PriorityService

Thank you - I am going to look for i tonight when I get home.

Am I justified in complaining about this ?

longey

I already sent them her bus pass, and I have an expired passport of hers (expired within the last year) but they refused to accept that.....

longey

davidmcn wrote: »

They shouldn't require to speak to her given that she has granted a POA (the whole point is that you should be able to deal with matters if she is no longer able even to speak, never mind understand the conversation).

It is however reasonable (and necessary) for them to check her identity, though irritating if they didn't do so at the outset. Did they give any other options for ID? Birth certificate only proves that someone of that name was born at a particular date and place, not that the person waving it is that person - anybody can get a copy from the registers (which may be what you have to do if you can't find it).

I already sent them her bus pass, and I have an expired passport of hers (expired within this last year) but they refused to accept that.....

xylophone

Am I justified in complaining about this ?

In view of

and I told them several times by email that she has dementia, firstly on 19 Sep and then pretty much every time that I contacted them afterwards

Yes, I'd say so.

davidmcn

I'd certainly complain about them expecting to speak to her if they've been made aware she has dementia. What if she had denied everything about the house being sold?

mrschaucer

The whole point about setting up this Power of Attorney is that once the family solicitor has provided a certified copy and stated that it has not been rescinded, then to all intents and purposes the Attorney BECOMES the seller of the property. The conveyancer is wrong on so many levels and clearly does not know what a PoA actually is.

longey

mrschaucer wrote: »

The whole point about setting up this Power of Attorney is that once the family solicitor has provided a certified copy and stated that it has not been rescinded, then to all intents and purposes the Attorney BECOMES the seller of the property. The conveyancer is wrong on so many levels and clearly does not know what a PoA actually is.

I have complained about it, and they just responded:
"In regards to your mums ID, we could not discuss that with you as we would legally need to speak to your mum to go through security with her. We note you have a Power of Attorney, and that is fine but legally all proceeds will need to be transferred to her as the property is in her name. The Power of Attorney only gives you the legal right to deal with the sale on her behalf."