Parking space title still in previous owner name

Pjay

I used a conveyancing company that was part of my mortgage offer from Birmingham Midshires when I purchased a property 5 years ago they were painfully slow at the time. In September this year I put the property on the market at a reduced price for a quick sale and it went under offer the purchasers solicitor done the required search which showed a 2nd title for the property which I had never seen before it transpires that the original conveyancers did not do proper searches so the 2nd title is still in the previous owners name.

G_M

Pjay wrote: »

I used a conveyancing company that was part of my mortgage offer from Birmingham Midshires when I purchased a property 5 years ago they were painfully slow at the time. In September this year I put the property on the market at a reduced price for a quick sale and it went under offer the purchasers solicitor done the required search which showed a 2nd title for the property which I had never seen before
I find this hard to believe.See below

it transpires that the original conveyancers did not do proper searches so the 2nd title is still in the previous owners name.
The 'searches' would not show up a 2nd Title. See below

I contacted them at the beginning of September to tell them of the error 3 months later they had done absolutely nothing apart from responding with they are looking into it they will give me no timelines nothing they just keep saying they are asking the original sellers solicitor to chase it up after pressuring them they finally wrote to the previous seller the recorded delivery it has been returned
Seems they are doing all they can to help. It's the seller/seller's solicitor who are causing the delay

I am using the same agent I brought with to sell they had the previous seller information they have emailed and called using the information they had but there is no response.
so also being helpful

I have a feeling the seller doesn’t want to sign the TR1 transfer.
Perhaps - who knows?

When I ask the original solicitors what is going the happen if we can’t find them or get them to sign they have no definite answer
Well a lot will depend what the contract said 5 years ago. I suggest you dig it out of your files and look.

they don’t have any urgency and don’t seem to know what to do they just keep saying they are trying to sort it out but all they have done in 3 months is send a registered letter.
No - they have also contacted the original seller's solicitor, who probably contacted their client, who probably did not reply......

I am in poor health I just need the parking space in my name so I can sell or any alternative options eg. Selling without parking space, indemnity insurance the current solicitor who is acting for sale told me this is a very serious problem and without the parking space being in my name I won’t ever be able to sell the house.
Please please can anyone tell me what I can do in this situation

Correct. The parking space is not in your name so you cannot sell it.

Going back 5 years, I am sure that your solicitor, however painfully slow, would have sent you a copy of the Title you were buying and asked you to check it. If you'd looked at the associatd Plan, you would have seen that the parking space was not included. You would then have raised this with your solicitor, who would have investigated further, and found the 2nd Title for the parking space.

Remember, your solicitor had never seen the property. He had no way to know a parking space was supposed to be included unless you had told him. Did you?

As I said, you need to look at the contract you and the seller signed (Standard conditions of sale ). Does it list both Titles? If yes, then the seller has an ongoing legal obligation to sign the TR1 and transfer the Title to you. If not, then I'm afraid you agreed tobuy the house but not the parking space, and are dependant on the seller's goodwill......

GDB2222

It is possible that you may get a court to put this right, hopefully at the expense of your conveyancers, but it isn't going to be quick. The sale particulars presumably included details of the parking space, etc. Did you keep all the original paperwork from your purchase?

You may well need legal help to get things moving, though. I suggest that you talk to a solicitor. Obviously, the last thing you need if you are not well. Sorry.

princeofpounds

This is a serious situation, unfortunately.

It sounds like you have given them a good amount of time to come back with a sensible answer on a voluntary basis. Your next step is probably to escalate it to a formal complaint.

https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/for-the-public/using-a-solicitor/complain-about-a-solicitor/

This may help deliver a sense of urgency and escalate the situation inside the firm to someone who can make proper resources available for attempting to fix the situation.

Depending on what state the paperwork was in at the time of your old sale, this may be an essentially administrative situation that can be sorted out, or it could be trickier if the parking space genuinely was never part of the deal (but it may still be resolvable by a monetary settlement, either to you or with the current 'owner' of the parking space).

The potential next step beyond that would be to look into the ombudsman or retain another solicitor who specialises in these cases to sue your old solicitor.

However, no matter how emotional this is, you must avoid the temptation to start ranting or threatening your old solicitor at this stage. Once they determine that they will end up on the opposite side of a legal dispute to you, they are likely to clam up, cease to act for you and only deal with you on a formal basis, in case they impair their defence in any way. For the time being, you are still working 'with' the old solicitor to fix things.

In the meantime, keep good records and all evidence relating to communication with your old solicitors, and also any costs and delays your suffer as a result of this problem.

Don't take my suggestions as anything other than a few pointers from a layperson; I'm sure others will come along with advice.

GDB2222

"I am using the same agent I brought with to sell they had the previous seller information they have emailed and called using the information they had but there is no response."

People do change their telephone number and email. Occasionally. Does the estate agent know roughly where the vendor moved to? You could employ a private detective to track him down.

Why do I suggest this? Well, the only quick way this will be resolved is if the vendor signs the TR1 (Land Registry transfer form for the parking space). It's quite possible that he is ignoring the correspondence, but he may well respond to a personal request.