Is there recourse with conveyancing solicitor after purchase?

seasonalbiz

I purchased my house 18months ago and the conveyancing solicitor failed to notice my house is connected to a private water main.  In 1962 the then owner agreed a licence (in the deeds) with the local council to tag on to an existing main belonging to the local councils farming estates.  Part of the agreement was to share 50% liability for upkeep of this supply.

The first I became aware was when the council told me there was a leak that "you are responsible" for repairing, this leak is a long way from my house.

Needless to say, its the only supply to my house and I need to ensure it gets fixed somehow.  That said, the very fact the council is trying to lay 100% responsibility - when the paperwork says 50/50split, means I am already at odds.

I asked the conveyancing solicitor why it wasn't picked up and she said "its out of the ordinary, which is why it probably wasn't noticed"...  so I asked for a consultation and she said as it was a now commercial litigation, I would need to see another solicitor in the firm.  Today I have been offered an appointment but told to lay up £500 beforehand.

I'm just a little frustrated as its possible I have a lot of unexpected expense coming up and had I of been told before exchange of contract, I would of done some homework regarding the potential worse case scenario, taken out insurance, negotiated further discount with the vendor.... etc etc.

They may well offer assistance on the basis it wasn't highlighted, I just thought the request for payment before I'd even spoken to anyone was a bit off in the circumstances.

Any advise?

akwexavante

Yes you can challenge your conveyancing solicitor just like anybody else but use a different solicitor though!!!!! Using the same solicitor, or a different solicitor at the same office / building or group / company would be throwing your money away.  You should go to a completely different solicitor altogether for advice.  

Puzzled though, who do you pay for your water usage!?

How do you prove that the solicitor didn't make you aware of this, very difficult indeed.  If the deed says 50/50 then 50/50 it is.  Theirs nothing to stop you getting quotes for the work from an independent company, if your 50% responsible then you can argue that you have a 50% say in who and how and when it's done.  You could also ague that 50/50 is extremely unreasonable.  I'm sure the council's farms are using millions of gallons of water and your usage will be next to nothing by comparison not that it will get you far.

I would challenge the legality of what the councils saying, didn't all water suppliers across the country adopt all pipework both supply and sewerage a few years ago.   Have a word with the local water company.  

Too late now for this specific issue but contact a different solicitor and ask to take out an indemnity policy that will protect you and forever successors in title for all and any future costs.    Estimate what it will cost to entirely replace all the pipework that your property is jointly responsible for and double it and indemnify it.  It'll probably cost you a one off fee of roughly £200.  This policy is transferable to all future owners forever.

Whether the solicitor is liable or not it will be very expensive and difficult to prove and get compensation

davidmcn

akwexavante said:

How do you prove that the solicitor didn't make you aware of this, very difficult indeed. 

Why difficult? It would usually be very easy as it's normal for the solicitors to report to you once they've examined title and searches and highlight anything potentially onerous - in any event they certainly ought to be telling you if water or sewerage is private.

OP, what were you told at the time?

If they failed to advise you of the private water supply then I would expect them to be liable for the loss suffered - which would be the difference in value between the same property with public or private water supply.
That's a separate matter from the current request for payment for maintenance though. I'm not aware of any general requirement for private water supplies (even ones where the council has an involvement) to be adopted by the water authorities.

trex227

Did you have searches done? If so, did you see them? What did the water & drainage search say? Did the solicitor provide a search report?

akwexavante

trex227 said:

Did you have searches done? If so, did you see them?

Also prove you weren't verbally told.   How many people are given a summary of the searches that don't even get read?

Was the conveyancing solicitor recommended to you by the Estate Agent by any chance?

notrouble

Two separate issues here. Do not confuse them!

1) you have a disagreement with the council. Your original solicitor is offering the services of their litigation dept to assist you with this. You could accept (and yes, pay them the initial £500 'on account'), or you could instruct a different solicitor.

2) you have a disagreement with the original solicitor regarding their failure to highlight the water arrangement. You could pursue this, initially via their formal complaints procedure (look it up!), and then via the ombudsman if not satisfied. If your complaint is upheld, you might be able to claim back the costs associated with 1) above........

akwexavante

When a solicitor performs searches they can only find info that's been previously registered, documented somewhere.  I bought a property, searches were done, alls well then a few day's after purchase 2 neighbours informed me that they had pedestrian rights of ways over my back yard.  These neighbours properties had not gone through "First Registration" and the deeds giving them their rights of ways had not been registered with Land registry and so could not be found by anybody performing a search.  I wasn't informed by the estate agent or the seller.  It cost me £14K and i lost but in the end i won!!!!   I won insofar as having then spent many hours at the record office i discovered that my property had a pedestrian and a vehicular right of way over my neighbours which meant that one had to demolish an extension and the other had to open up a wall to allow a vehicle through.  Their ROW was 3'6", my ROW was 16" wide.  They were not very happy at all.

xylophone

Are you issued with a water bill? You mention being supplied from the main that also supplies the estate - who owns the main?
https://www.water.org.uk/advice-for-customers/find-your-supplier/
https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/households/supply-and-standards/supply-pipes/
And as for the "supply", the whole  of the pipework serviced by the main? Or just your connection to it?

seasonalbiz

Ok... so I first I knew about this was last November.  The council took two months to provide the paperwork.  I'm going to pick up the deeds tomorrow to see if the licence I've been emailed is with the deeds - if it is then it really should of been picked up.

I moved within the area of the same water board, gave readings for address change.  I can't remember if this was verbal or online... but they carried on taking the DD for the first 6months - then stopped... this I didn't notice until last November when this arose.

The house has land, so when I moved I started getting bills for land drainage from two commissions.  Minor amounts, but bills I wasn't used to.  There was also a bill that turned up 6 months into ownership from the county council - a very sparse letter requesting payment for water charge, it was essentially from the estates office and several voicemails were not answered... and to date its the only bill I have had.  I've since spoken to the previous owner and been told they only read the meter once a year so I guess another bill is due imminently.

As far as searches are concerned, I didn't see any of them.  I have to admit, call me lapse but I took the basics to of been dealt with.  The only issue raised was access passing over a very small parcel of land with unknown ownership which required indemnity, she was like a dog with a bone on that one as the vendors solicitor hadn't picked that up when she had purchased the property.  That lead me to believe she was being meticulous, I wouldn't of thought twice about something like this.

The only reason I asked for advise, is everybody makes mistakes.  If I make a mistake at work, I pay for it to an extent... if the consequences for that mistake go into serious money - then hopefully a liability insurance would cover it.  Thats the only reason I ask.

With a bit of undercover work I may of already found a reason to void the deed/licence... and it may well be possible to execute with a couple of legal letters.  I just initially thought the firm that made the mistake, should be trying to make amends by a consultation at the very least - without asking for £500 up front. 

TBagpuss

As far as searches are concerned, I didn't see any of them.  I have to admit, call me lapse but I took the basics to of been dealt with.  The only issue raised was access passing over a very small parcel of land with unknown ownership which required indemnity, she was like a dog with a bone on that one as the vendors solicitor hadn't picked that up when she had purchased the property.  That lead me to believe she was being meticulous, I wouldn't of thought twice about something like this.

Were you sent the searches and didn't check them, or were you never sent them? It's likely to make a big difference to whether or not the solicitors are liable for missing this.

Normally they would check the searches as well as giving them to you so you can review them, but it may weaken your case if they sent them to you to review and you chose not to.

davidmcn

TBagpuss said:

As far as searches are concerned, I didn't see any of them.  I have to admit, call me lapse but I took the basics to of been dealt with.  The only issue raised was access passing over a very small parcel of land with unknown ownership which required indemnity, she was like a dog with a bone on that one as the vendors solicitor hadn't picked that up when she had purchased the property.  That lead me to believe she was being meticulous, I wouldn't of thought twice about something like this.

Normally they would check the searches as well as giving them to you so you can review them, but it may weaken your case if they sent them to you to review and you chose not to.

I don't think it does to any great extent - the whole point of employing a solicitor is so that they can spot and highlight things which are unusual and advise on the implications, not just act as a postbox and expect you to understand searches, titles etc.