Possible Advice

rookie4ever

Hello All,
I'm in a bit of an odd situation, where I was in the middle of a house sale. I am currently teaching abroad, will be returning back to the UK in July. When I was in the UK during early January, the mortgage said everything would be okay, as my sister was liasing for me and my mum (who is providing the deposit). All the searches, etc have been done. the lawyer then turned around and just stated they wouldn't represent me because they had issues with not contacting me (she refused to take a video call and was never in office when I called) and that she was concerned with my mum's language barrier (my mum has lived in the UK for over 40 years and is a British citizen), not understanding lawyer speak is not limited to immigrants, but what do I know, she's even had to do an ID1 (I think that's what it is called) although the lawyer who did this queried why she had to, because you don't need it, the house sale is not in my mum's name it's in mine, my mum is just providing a deposit, I am getting the mortgage in my name.
When I queried with the conveyancing assistant's manager I was then advised that the case was refused due to risk assessment (this is 2.5 months after taking on the case), and when going via the complaints procedure they advised (within the hour) that the manager had already advised me and that they would not be investigating the matter.
The mortgage broker then provided a second lawyer whom where happy until they contacted the first lawyer and before receiving all the paperwork they've now also said no.
I'm confused on so many levels, has anything like this ever happened to anyone before. The mortgage broker has said it's not his fault. The lawyer will not return the monies they've already spent, and the house sale has fallen through. Was the lawyer right is firstly refusing to accommodate me in video chats and calls, saying that my mother has a language barrier issue. Then her manager changing this to risk assessment (which I thought was always done at the beginning because it would make no sense to do it 2 days before closure).
And then the second lawyer has spoken to this first set of lawyers that have all my paperwork and now they refuse as well. The broker has suggested it because the lawyers have blacklisted me, so to speak, I have no idea why. I'm a teacher, before that I worked in IT and for some time worked for an MOD contract, before this I worked for a bank when I came out of university. I've had so many checks during my terms of employment and no one has ever flagged an issue before for either me or my mother. But all of a sudden one lawyer says something (after spending months on something that takes a 2-3 weeks) and I'm being blocked from a house purchase.
I'm thinking of taking this to the legal ombudsman and/or the SRA as I don't feel they treated me right. However I know that I'm quite emotional having spent money on this and to have nothing come out of it is frustrating to say the least. I'm currently stuck abroad under quarantine and working remotely for my job. I've tried to find a solution for this online but it doesn't seem anyone has been in the same boat as me, buyer is abroad, donor in the uk, and case falls through after lawyers having it for 2.5 months.
I've worked hard my whole life and this whole situation just seems so unfair as they've had all my paperwork to show I can afford the mortgage etc but somehow I'm a risk assessment (I already have life insurance to cover the mortgage if I die abroad) and there was a tenancy agreement already in place. 
I'm not even sure who is at fault here. The mortgage broker states he's done everything he could, the lawyers have advised they've paid for searches so I cannot get a refund and my mum still had to pay for this ID1 check thing which folk are saying we never needed in the first place. Is this just a loss I have to take, even though I was open that I would be fulfilling my work contract abroad but was only buying as the house would not be available after the end of the tax year?
Thank you for reading this far and I hope someone can provide me with some objective advice, as I'm lost on what my next steps are (especially with me being in quarantine abroad right now)

greatcrested

Phieeew! What a verbal block!

The fact that 2 firms have said the same thing does not bode well - there's clearly an issue. Not sure what 'risk assessment' means but money laundering checks jumps to mind as possibly their concern.

How much have you paid? If purely the £300 odd for searches etc that is usually paid upfront, then it's reasonable that this is not refundable. They've spent that money, not kept it.

The ID1 was presumably done as you asked your mother to act on your behalf, so the solicitor needed to confirm she was who you/she said she was.

The length of time your mother has lived here is irrelevant. There are new arrivals to this country who speak fluent English. Likewise there are residents/citizens who have been here for decades who can barely say 'Please' and 'Thank you'. I obviously have no idea how much English your mother speaks, or with what accent, but if the solicitor was having difficulty comprehending her then.. there was obviously an issue.

I suspect a complaint to the legal ombudsman, as well as taking time, will not resolve this to your satisfaction.

I suspect your best course of action is to let this property go, wait till you return, and start your house-hunting and purchase again once you are in a position to manage it personally and from within the country.

rookie4ever

Sorry if I didn't make it clear, the solicitor has never spoken to me or my mother, the mortgage advisor did and he advised (along with the solicitor that completed the ID1 form) has directly advised the solicitor that my mum's English was fine, she just needed "solicitor jargon" explained to her. Although the solicitor who completed the ID1 was very confused by why it was being done.

I am kind of thinking I might just have lost some of the money, but seeing as I know that my mother's English is perfectly fine, she understands more English then I do, as she took lessons (I've just grown up with the language, lol). But I've also grown up with racism so I know the solicitor is being racist, unfortunately for those who do not live in a minority, anytime racist comments are called out on, it has always written it off, be this local authorities, the police, etc (usually just get told we misheard, or misunderstood someone calling us a slur, etc). Just wondered if anyone has experienced anything similar and if anyone knew what next steps could be because it doesn't seem fair that they should get away with this.

They provided one reason to end the case, then when asking the manager she provided a different one. Then when raising a complaint, it took less then an hour to advise that they had nothing further to say. No information was given about who to forward complaints to and what money would be returned. It just seemed so unprofessional in the way they handled it. I would be fired for handling a person the way they seemed to have handled this matter.

And just to further update, the solicitor who was dealing with our case is now on furlough leave, and the reason why the second lawyer did not take the case on is because the first refused to provide a reason as to why they said no to us.