Can I get my money back from the solicitor?

1886travel

We are buying a new build house and have started the process with their recommended solicitor. My developer is aware that part of our deposit will be from overseas. The solicitor didn't mention any policies on sanctions on certain countries before. Once they received all documents and paper they said they are not able to proceed my purchase. 

"Unfortunately China is on a list of Countries where tougher sanctions are in place and which as a result places this outside of our risk profile. "

We've paid 250 quid to this solicitor. Can i get a refund since it's their decision to terminate?


*we cannot find any references or news on the government website... We processed with another solicitor for the purchase before with the oversea gifted deposit and everything was fine...

Thanks 

canaldumidi

What was the £250 for?

If it was a deposit to developer which has already been paid, I doubt it.

If it was for eg for searches which has already been paid to the local authority, I doubt it.

If it was just 'on account' to cover future costs the solicitor would incur, perhaps.

Though even in the latter case the solicitor can probably charge for whatever time they've already spent on your case (at £150 per hour? £200?).

it's their decision to terminate?

I suspect they had no choice. It was the government's decision to impose sanctions.

But you can certainly ask......

GDB2222

I’m afraid that I have sympathy with the solicitor. They don’t need to state that they cannot break the law, as that’s inherent in any contract. You can reasonably expect any unused part of the fee to be returned. 

They may refund the whole lot, if you kick up a fuss, just to part company quickly.

 You now know that you can’t use this money from overseas for house purchase.

1886travel

canaldumidi said:

What was the £250 for?

If it was a deposit to developer which has already been paid, I doubt it.

If it was for eg for searches which has already been paid to the local authority, I doubt it.

If it was just 'on account' to cover future costs the solicitor would incur, perhaps.

Though even in the latter case the solicitor can probably charge for whatever time they've already spent on your case (at £150 per hour? £200?).

it's their decision to terminate?

I suspect they had no choice. It was the government's decision to impose sanctions.

But you can certainly ask......

£250 is for preparing the paperwork. Another £1200 will be paid once it's all done. 

As far as I am aware, it's not government's decision and we couldn't find any news or references on gov's website...

GDB2222

1886travel said:

canaldumidi said:

What was the £250 for?

If it was a deposit to developer which has already been paid, I doubt it.

If it was for eg for searches which has already been paid to the local authority, I doubt it.

If it was just 'on account' to cover future costs the solicitor would incur, perhaps.

Though even in the latter case the solicitor can probably charge for whatever time they've already spent on your case (at £150 per hour? £200?).

it's their decision to terminate?

I suspect they had no choice. It was the government's decision to impose sanctions.

But you can certainly ask......

£250 is for preparing the paperwork. Another £1200 will be paid once it's all done. 

As far as I am aware, it's not government's decision and we couldn't find any news or references on gov's website...

You think they may be mistaken about the sanctions?  They are obviously not making it up, but of course there can be an error. 

1886travel

GDB2222 said:

1886travel said:

canaldumidi said:

What was the £250 for?

If it was a deposit to developer which has already been paid, I doubt it.

If it was for eg for searches which has already been paid to the local authority, I doubt it.

If it was just 'on account' to cover future costs the solicitor would incur, perhaps.

Though even in the latter case the solicitor can probably charge for whatever time they've already spent on your case (at £150 per hour? £200?).

it's their decision to terminate?

I suspect they had no choice. It was the government's decision to impose sanctions.

But you can certainly ask......

£250 is for preparing the paperwork. Another £1200 will be paid once it's all done. 

As far as I am aware, it's not government's decision and we couldn't find any news or references on gov's website...

You think they may be mistaken about the sanctions?  They are obviously not making it up, but of course there can be an error. 

it might be their own policies I suppose as emailed a few solicitors about this and they were all fine with it. They just need to do some additional checks.  

TheMilkmansDad

which country are we talking about here? May shed some light on the matter.

GDB2222

That is clearly something to ask the outgoing solicitor. If it’s an arbitrary decision on their part, it’s very difficult for them to justify keeping your money. However, it’s not something I would expect them to do arbitrarily.

 You may be on some AML list, in which case they probably can’t tell you that. 

user1977

1886travel said:

We've paid 250 quid to this solicitor. Can i get a refund since it's their decision to terminate?

Have you asked them?

Thrugelmir

1886travel said:

We've paid 250 quid to this solicitor. Can i get a refund since it's their decision to terminate?

Have you asked? 

1886travel

GDB2222 said:

1886travel said:

canaldumidi said:

What was the £250 for?

If it was a deposit to developer which has already been paid, I doubt it.

If it was for eg for searches which has already been paid to the local authority, I doubt it.

If it was just 'on account' to cover future costs the solicitor would incur, perhaps.

Though even in the latter case the solicitor can probably charge for whatever time they've already spent on your case (at £150 per hour? £200?).

it's their decision to terminate?

I suspect they had no choice. It was the government's decision to impose sanctions.

But you can certainly ask......

£250 is for preparing the paperwork. Another £1200 will be paid once it's all done. 

As far as I am aware, it's not government's decision and we couldn't find any news or references on gov's website...

You think they may be mistaken about the sanctions?  They are obviously not making it up, but of course there can be an error. 

not making up as everyone can have their own opinions. also if they think this would take more work to do when dealing with overseas money they don't have to start the process...