Claiming From Solicitors For House Move Foulup?

michael.hudson_2

Hi all,

My son is going through a divorce and recently down sized to a smaller house, his sale went fine and on the moving day he loaded a van, his wife jumped into her vehicle and promptly vanished, leaving my son with the kids and dog. He went to the house he was buying, the owners had moved to relatives further up the street. On arrival he found that due to the sellers solicitor, fouling up paperwork, he was not allowed the keys or to move in. The owner (seller) took pity and allowed him to unload some of his house contents into the living room. The rest had to go into the garden as there was no garage. At the same time storm Arwen hit, causing damage to the goods in the garden. Overnight he had become a single parent with a family and technically homeless and helpless.  He together with his 10 year old daughter, 8 year old son and Cocker-poodle dog having to spend 4 nights in a hotel while the solicitor sorted out the paperwork. He has now moved in and is ordering skips for damaged goods clearance and trying to get things sorted. My question is, can he claim for damages and out of pocket expenses from the sellers solicitor?

[Deleted User]

No. He would have to take action against the seller, as he had no contract with the seller's solicitor.

What did they do wrong?

Pixie5740

michael.hudson_2 said:

Hi all,

My son is going through a divorce and recently down sized to a smaller house, his sale went fine and on the moving day he loaded a van, his wife jumped into her vehicle and promptly vanished, leaving my son with the kids and dog. He went to the house he was buying, the owners had moved to relatives further up the street. On arrival he found that due to the sellers solicitor, fouling up paperwork, he was not allowed the keys or to move in. The owner (seller) took pity and allowed him to unload some of his house contents into the living room. The rest had to go into the garden as there was no garage. At the same time storm Arwen hit, causing damage to the goods in the garden. Overnight he had become a single parent with a family and technically homeless and helpless.  He together with his 10 year old daughter, 8 year old son and Cocker-poodle dog having to spend 4 nights in a hotel while the solicitor sorted out the paperwork. He has now moved in and is ordering skips for damaged goods clearance and trying to get things sorted. My question is, can he claim for damages and out of pocket expenses from the sellers solicitor?

Is this in Scotland? 

What is your son’s solicitor advising? 

p00hsticks

michael.hudson_2 said:

On arrival he found that due to the sellers solicitor, fouling up paperwork, he was not allowed the keys or to move in.

This needs expanding on. Had contracts been exchanged ? What 'fouling up paperwork' exactly ? If contracts had been exchanged then there are mechanisms in place for compensating people and meeting expenses if completion does not happen on the agreed date - his own solicitor should be able to deal with it.

If contracts hadn't been exchanged then I don't believe there's any recourse - it;s one of the disadvantages of exchanging and completing on the same day.

I'm not sure about paying for damage to the stuff in the garden though as I suspect there will be an obligation to mitigate any losees. I suspect it could be argued that storing stuff in the garden in winter when there were weather warnings in place wasn't a good idea and there may have been better options available that he coiould have taken (e.g. keeping it in the van, getting temporary self-storage) - appreciate that you wpuld not necessarily be thinking very straight in such stressful circumstances though.

[Deleted User]

was this not resolved through solicitors or did he try to fix it with the seller?  If it was just an admin issue then a key undertaking could have been given allowing him to move all the stuff in.  Potentially even allowing him to live there while admin was sorted out.  
If there was a more serious issue then this may not have been possible.  

What was the issue and who did he speak to on the day?

saajan_12

michael.hudson_2 said:

Hi all,

My son is going through a divorce and recently down sized to a smaller house, his sale went fine and on the moving day he loaded a van, his wife jumped into her vehicle and promptly vanished, leaving my son with the kids and dog. He went to the house he was buying, the owners had moved to relatives further up the street. On arrival he found that due to the sellers solicitor, fouling up paperwork, he was not allowed the keys or to move in. The owner (seller) took pity and allowed him to unload some of his house contents into the living room. The rest had to go into the garden as there was no garage. At the same time storm Arwen hit, causing damage to the goods in the garden. Overnight he had become a single parent with a family and technically homeless and helpless.  He together with his 10 year old daughter, 8 year old son and Cocker-poodle dog having to spend 4 nights in a hotel while the solicitor sorted out the paperwork. He has now moved in and is ordering skips for damaged goods clearance and trying to get things sorted. My question is, can he claim for damages and out of pocket expenses from the sellers solicitor?

Depending on: 
a) had you exchanged (or were you exchanging & completing on the same day?)
b) what was the "foulup" ?
c) had your funds (deposit + mortgage) been transferred from your solicitor to the seller's solicitor?

it will either be a claim to the seller / your solicitor / no one. 
You have no contract with your seller's solicitor, so no direct claim on them (though your seller might claim from them if you claim from the seller)

steampowered

This is the risk of same day exchange and completion.

The sale is not guaranteed until you have exchanged.

Thrugelmir

michael.hudson_2 said:

On arrival he found that due to the sellers solicitor, fouling up paperwork, 

Without further detail this means very little. What exactly did happen? 

[Deleted User]

One issue you might have is that your need to minimise your expenses. Given it's winter it was probably foreseeable that the stuff would get damaged, and he could have used a storage company.