Can you sue former solicitors?

JSwinson

We bought a house 8 years ago and have recently decided to downsize, our sale fell through because the two story extension (done circa 1990) doesnt have evidence of building regs and our council (Derbyshire) dont keep records dating more than 15 years.

The buyers are arguing this makes it a 3 bed and as such is overvalued. Our solicitors arent happy as they say it's been 30 years and 4 owners since and theres nothing we can do, despite their survey also not bringing it up as an issue.

Our previous solicitors when we bought the house didn't ask this question, if sadly the buyers do pull out can we go to our previous solicitors with a claim? This would really hit us hard

Niv

You could, but I cant see that you would win.


Sounds like a case of looking for new buyers tbh.

ethank

I think they are trying to pull a fast one on you. You would not need to provide evidence of building regs if it was done then. Was planning granted or was it permitted development? I think if you can provide some kind of proof which dates the extension it will be useful.

KA1976

They surely can't expect you to have records dating back 30 years. That's crazy. If you did it and lived there the whole time maybe but definitely not if it's a few owners ago.

I'm normally a lurker but I thought I'd comment as I successfully got money from a solicitor who did conveyancing for me who made an error in a different area. You can report them to their regulator too and they're very happy to converse when you threaten that.

However, for things like two story extensions and attic extensions you cant expect to have records 15 years longer than your council does. If it's still there after 10 years it's been built well, 30 and with no problems and it's been built fantastically. I'm a builder but even if I wasnt this wouldn't be an issue at all for me going through conveyancing. Its par for the course on old houses with extensions.

JSwinson

Thanks EthanK, our solicitors thought so too but theirs want the regs. No idea what to do as this could mean we lose our sale, cant buy our dream house etc.

I'm just gutted atm for something I had no idea about when we bought

davidmcn

If the works are even older than building control's archives, why on earth would it be a problem? The council can hardly knock on your door and complain about the lack of paperwork if they can't find their files either...

Either your buyers are badly advised or just using it as an excuse to try chipping away at the price (or are pulling out for some other reason).

JSwinson

Thanks Davidmcn,

We dont think it's the buyers, we think their solicitor has spooked them. I totally understand wanting to be safe rather than sorry, but it's not like it's new or we bodged it and are hiding the fact we didn't have the certs... it's been there for 30 years and is probably the nicest part of the house.

G_M

This is a non issue which the buyers and/or their solicitors should know better than to get hung up on.

If you walk round the house counting, I assume you'll count 4 bedrooms? So there are 4 bedrooms!

No one is going to take action over either Planning or Building Regs discrepancies after all this time.

So no, you can't sue your solicitor.

If th buyers see this as a show-stopper, start re-marketing and find a more sensible buyer with more sensible solicitor.

Bossypants

If you're feeling very generous, you could offer to buy an indemnity policy for them (generally £100-200). If not, tell your agent to start remarketing. If the buyers don't see sense at that point, then they were never going to buy your place for the offer price anyway. Good luck!

Thrugelmir

JSwinson wrote: »

The buyers are arguing this makes it a 3 bed and as such is overvalued.

Hold tight. Don't be bullied. Leave it up to your buyers if they wish to proceed or not.

Yalpsmol

Have you or the buyer contacted the council re building regs? I interpreted the OP as having contacted them (thus indemnity insurance not being an option). But if neither party has
contacted them (and wont) then it might solve the problem. They'll feel better about it and presumably are happy that it is of a decent standard seeing as its still standing proud 3 decades later....