Good professional negligence firm of solicitors, please?

Manxman_in_exile

Is it significant whether it was sold by the three individuals or by their company?  What difference does it make?  Regarding the car parking and the covenants, all that should have been covered by your friend's solicitor.  The fact that the individual responsible for that has now left the firm ought to be irrelevant if he was acting on behalf of the firm at the time.

And when you say of the vendor:  "...they have already admitted same and tried to brush it off as innocent..." what do you mean?  Are you only talking about who sold it (irrelevent as above) or are you talking about the fact the parking place was not transferred and the covenents have become more restictive?  If you are talking about the parking space and the covenants, and the vendor has admitted that what was conveyed was not what was agreed, then your friend should have instructed their solicitor to sort this out immediately to your friend's satisfaction, and at no extra cost to your friend, plus demanding some sum back in recognition of the inconvenience the solicitors' negligence has caused him.  If the managing partner has already admitted the fault you are halfway there.  Is it in writing?

To be honest I don't understand why your friend has let this continue for so long.  Your friend's conveyancing solicitor has clearly been negligent*, and I'm surprised they haven't fallen over themselves to put this right before now.  The fact they haven't done so yet sounds a bit ominous.

Go to the other board I directed you to and ask if anybody there can give any practical advice about getting this put right without having to go through the hassle of suing a firm of solicitors for professional negligence.  (I'm not saying you shouldn't - the solicitors sound hopelessly incompetent - but if a satisfactory solution can be found without litigating that is probably better.  Whatever happens I'd still be complaining to the SRA).

*Assuming you haven't missed out anything that might suggest otherwise

EDIT:  When I was a law student 40 years ago, contracts for the transfer of an interest in land had to be evidenced in writing.  I doubt that requirement has changed so I hope your friend has something in writing about the intention to transfer the car park space etc.  Presumably it wasn't covered in the exchanged contracts when it should have been.  Wasn't your friend asked to check pre-contract responses from the vendor and draft sale contract?

ssparks2003

Would the first step not be to raise a complaint with the conveyancing firm through their complaints procedure. I can see no mention of this in the OP

Manxman_in_exile

Manxman_in_exile said:

Presumably your friend has complained to their solicitor?  Have they not offered to put everything "right"?  Has your friend complained to the SRA?

ripofflondon said:

 
Yes, of course he complained to his original solicitors.  The original person who didn't do the pre-completion searches left the firm a very short time after.  The managing partner first denied any wrongdoing, then admitted it and said would put everything "right"......and has since done sweet nothing. 

I know it's a big assumption on my part but I'm assuming the firm has drawn the friend's attention to their complaints procedure and/or that the firm has followed it...  (I'm of the view that the only complaint worth making is a formal one).