I Paid a Solicitor For Searches That Never Got Done, Do I Get That Money Back?

avocia

Question in the title is oversimplified so I'll elaborate - About a year ago I was attempting to buy a new build flat and instructed a solicitor (PM Property Lawyers, for reference) to carry out searches and do the necessary legal work on it. Unfortunately, this didn't get very far. I was using Help to Buy, and the developer's HtB registration expired midway through my mortgage application process. After about 6 months of waiting and waiting with no progress nor further updates from the developer, mortgage advisor or solicitors I changed tacks and decided to buy a house in a different development as I had had more time to save money for a bigger deposit. The new developer recommended a different solicitor, and I figured since I had had such bad communication from the previous solicitor, it would be better to go with one recommended by the developer this time as at least that way if they were slow/communicated badly, I could remind the developer that this was their recommendation and not my fault. (Which for anyone buying a house I suggest doing by the way, as any time things were held up the developer always pressured the solicitor for me.)

The thing is, I gave the previous solicitor a £50 retainer (which I do not expect to get back), but also £230 for search fees. Having looked at my case progress file, at the very least I know some of these searches have not been carried out, as the progress bar says as much. These will not need to be done now of course as I have a different solicitor and am about 2 days away from exchanging on the other property, not to mention the fact it's been about a year since I gave them this money. Are they legally required to give me the unused money back though? If so, how would I go about having that returned to me?

Thanks in advance!

davidmcn

You just ask them. If they haven't spent it on searches it will still be sitting on their client account. In practice they will (eventually) get round to trying to send it back to you anyway.

avocia

davidmcn said:

You just ask them. If they haven't spent it on searches it will still be sitting on their client account. In practice they will (eventually) get round to trying to send it back to you anyway.

Yeah I sent them an email a few months ago asking and it got ignored, so I thought maybe I wasn't entitled to any of this money back and they didn't want to dignify my ignorance with a response. I've sent another email, but this time directly to the solicitor who was assigned my case, so hopefully they'll get back to me this time. Thanks!

davidmcn

avocia said:

The new developer recommended a different solicitor, and I figured since I had had such bad communication from the previous solicitor, it would be better to go with one recommended by the developer this time as at least that way if they were slow/communicated badly, I could remind the developer that this was their recommendation and not my fault. (Which for anyone buying a house I suggest doing by the way, as any time things were held up the developer always pressured the solicitor for me.)

This isn't a great idea, by the way - you want a solicitor representing your interests, rather than one who has a much cosier relationship with the developer. See umpteen threads here by people who regret using a "recommended" solicitor.

avocia

davidmcn said:

This isn't a great idea, by the way - you want a solicitor representing your interests, rather than one who has a much cosier relationship with the developer. See umpteen threads here by people who regret using a "recommended" solicitor.

I could see how that might be the case, I just wasn't sure what I was doing and because the previous solicitor had been so absent and the developer barely interacted with them I no longer trusted myself to find a well priced solicitor who does the work. The new developer actually recommended 2 different solicitors, and one of them had prices comparable to the solicitor I had sourced myself, so I figured I wasn't being ripped off. (If I'd gone with the other solicitor I'd definitely have been being ripped off though.) As yet, no regrets. This solicitor has been a bit slow a couple of times but whenever I raised this with the developer they've always chased and got me an update within a few hours. 

GDB2222

What fee agreement did you have with the solicitor? Are they entitled to more than the £50 if the abortive work they have already done costs more? Or, do you only have to pay them if you complete the purchase? 

I ask, because it's possible that you owe them more than they owe you. 

avocia

GDB2222 said:

What fee agreement did you have with the solicitor? Are they entitled to more than the £50 if the abortive work they have already done costs more? Or, do you only have to pay them if you complete the purchase? 

I ask, because it's possible that you owe them more than they owe you. 

My original quote from them specifies a 'No Completion, No Fee' basis, and I have record of that so at the very least I know I don't owe them money. 

davidmcn

avocia said:

davidmcn said:

This isn't a great idea, by the way - you want a solicitor representing your interests, rather than one who has a much cosier relationship with the developer. See umpteen threads here by people who regret using a "recommended" solicitor.

As yet, no regrets. 

The regrets tend not to come until you sell or remortgage and find out what you ought to have been told during your purchase...

teachfast

avocia said:

davidmcn said:

You just ask them. If they haven't spent it on searches it will still be sitting on their client account. In practice they will (eventually) get round to trying to send it back to you anyway.

Yeah I sent them an email a few months ago asking and it got ignored, so I thought maybe I wasn't entitled to any of this money back and they didn't want to dignify my ignorance with a response. I've sent another email, but this time directly to the solicitor who was assigned my case, so hopefully they'll get back to me this time. Thanks!

Standard solicitor practice. 

pinkteapot

If they don’t, look up their complaints procedure and send a letter requesting a refund to the address given. They may well say that under terms you signed you’re not eligible but it’s worth asking as you might get something back. 

For anyone else reading in future: Don’t use the developer’s recommended solicitor. If possible, get a local solicitor recommendation from friends/family/colleagues/your local Facebook group then ring three solicitors for quotes and see what impression you get of them.

The fact your first solicitor had an online progress tracker suggests it was one of the online conveyancing farms rather than a local solicitors practice. 

TripleH

davidmcn said:

avocia said:

The new developer recommended a different solicitor, and I figured since I had had such bad communication from the previous solicitor, it would be better to go with one recommended by the developer this time as at least that way if they were slow/communicated badly, I could remind the developer that this was their recommendation and not my fault. (Which for anyone buying a house I suggest doing by the way, as any time things were held up the developer always pressured the solicitor for me.)

This isn't a great idea, by the way - you want a solicitor representing your interests, rather than one who has a much cosier relationship with the developer. See umpteen threads here by people who regret using a "recommended" solicitor.

I agree with davidmcn on this. We pulled out of a purchase (new build) because our chosen solicitor advised us that the lease in their opinion was 'defective' (broad term, yes), the vendor solicitor aknowledged this and told us to exchange as the lease would be corrected before completion, besides everyone else's solicitors had accepted this situation. For context, we knew of other people buying flats but they had all used the 'recommended' solicitors. Our solicitor did say they had doubts the lease would be amended despite the promise. 
I accept that everything might eventually be sorted correctly and the lease issues resolved, our decision was based on the information we had available to us at the time. Pity as the build quality ofvthe conversion looked good.