Conveyancer issues - what do I do next?

JFort

Hi all,

First post here, so I hope this is an appropriate forum for this. I literally just don't know what to do next here.

I completed on my new home in May 2021. I was in a chain of 3, with me in the middle. The property I was moving from had service charges, and the new property does as well.

My conveyancers were generally terrible throughout the whole process - holding things up, losing things, squabbling with the other solicitors for no reason. I made a complaint and received some funding back from them, which I'd hoped would put a line under the whole sorry saga and allow me to move on.

I've now got an issue whereby it transpires my conveyancer;

a.) never bothered to alert the property management company about the purchase - this means I am not registered with them and cannot be until my solicitor completes the neccessary paperwork. The conveyancer was alerted to the need for this several times during the process, and the company has been in touch with them directly several times as well letting them know what they need. This means that the service charge account is still registered to the previous owners, not myself.  The management company (who are also not great communication wise) tell me they can't accept anything from me, as it has to come from the conveyancers.

b.) it does not appear that the Land Registry have been informed of the purchase - my property sale is not showing over 12 months since completion. I have contacted the Land registry to confirm if they have been provided information relating to this sale, but so far all I've had back are the generic e-mails saying about delays.

I have contacted the conveyancers several times, and they now ignore all of my contacts. The management company have contacted them several times since completion took place too to get the information. They aren't local to me. I genuinely just don't know what to do next or where to go with this, and don't want them to get away with it but most importantly I want to make sure my sale is registered, or how worried I should actually be about all of this.

Has anyone ever been in a similiar situation, or have some advice on where I might even go next here?

user1977

JFort said:

it does not appear that the Land Registry have been informed of the purchase - my property sale is not showing over 12 months since completion. I have contacted the Land registry to confirm if they have been provided information relating to this sale, but so far all I've had back are the generic e-mails saying about delays.

Are you sure the application for registration hasn't been submitted and is simply pending the LR completing registration? That's normal and nothing to be concerned about.

JFort

user1977 said:

JFort said:

it does not appear that the Land Registry have been informed of the purchase - my property sale is not showing over 12 months since completion. I have contacted the Land registry to confirm if they have been provided information relating to this sale, but so far all I've had back are the generic e-mails saying about delays.

Are you sure the application for registration hasn't been submitted and is simply pending the LR completing registration? That's normal and nothing to be concerned about.

Thank you for the reply! I don't know for sure unfortunately. As I mentioned, I've enquired with the LR but they haven't come back as of yet. I appreciate there are delays but I guess I'm just worried because its been 13 months now, where as the two other properties on my street (who completed well after me - I completed in May 2021, the other two doors down in July 2021, and the other in September 2021 - both are showing as updated)

Tiglet2

Do you remember the solicitor specifically mentioning/asking you for additional monies for a Notice of Transfer and Charge (Notices)? 

The management company issue their management pack some time after the transaction has started which details any fees needed. 

The solicitor won't know what additional monies will be needed when you first instruct them, but they should have come up during the course of the conveyancing.  Your solicitor would then let you know that they require extra monies to cover the cost of the Notices.  It is not an optional fee.  If you didn't pay it, the solicitor would not issue the Notices.

Why don't you look through all the paperwork you were given throughout the conveyancing and see what the management pack says about their fees and whether your solicitor did request monies from you to pay for the Notices.

If the solicitor didn't request any fees from you or even advise that they needed to issues Notices, then they will need to do it now (once you've paid the appropriate fee).  The Notices need to be 'receipted' by the Management Company and sent back to the solicitor to confirm that the change of owner (and any lender's charge) has been acknowledged and noted in their records.

It may be that the solicitor did send the Notices, but the management company have lost them.  If so, your solicitor will have to send duplicates and a copy of the bank statement showing that the fees were paid.  

Either way, it is your solicitor that you need to speak to in order to find out what's gone wrong.

Tiglet2

With regard to the Land Registry application, there are lots of delays on registrations.

As User1977 says above, it may be that the application is still pending, rather than the solicitor has not submitted the application.

canaldumidi

If youpost on the Land Registry thread below, a Rep will answer you.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79260406#Comment_79260406

They may ask for the Title number and then tell you whether an application is pending or not.

JFort

Tiglet2 said:

Do you remember the solicitor specifically mentioning/asking you for additional monies for a Notice of Transfer and Charge (Notices)? 

The management company issue their management pack some time after the transaction has started which details any fees needed. 

The solicitor won't know what additional monies will be needed when you first instruct them, but they should have come up during the course of the conveyancing.  Your solicitor would then let you know that they require extra monies to cover the cost of the Notices.  It is not an optional fee.  If you didn't pay it, the solicitor would not issue the Notices.

Why don't you look through all the paperwork you were given throughout the conveyancing and see what the management pack says about their fees and whether your solicitor did request monies from you to pay for the Notices.

If the solicitor didn't request any fees from you or even advise that they needed to issues Notices, then they will need to do it now (once you've paid the appropriate fee).  The Notices need to be 'receipted' by the Management Company and sent back to the solicitor to confirm that the change of owner (and any lender's charge) has been acknowledged and noted in their records.

It may be that the solicitor did send the Notices, but the management company have lost them.  If so, your solicitor will have to send duplicates and a copy of the bank statement showing that the fees were paid.  

Either way, it is your solicitor that you need to speak to in order to find out what's gone wrong.

Hi Tiglet, and thanks for this detailed response. Its super helpful.

I have just checked back and yes, the management pack was issued back in February 2021 and outlined the fees for transfers. My completion statement outlines that I paid this fee as an 'allocation of service charge' (the amount is as per the management pack received, so I am presuming it is this).

I understand I need to speak to my Conveyancer - but I suppose my question is more where do I go next if they refuse to engage with me (as they have been doing for the last year).

JFort

Tiglet2 said:

With regard to the Land Registry application, there are lots of delays on registrations.

As User1977 says above, it may be that the application is still pending, rather than the solicitor has not submitted the application.

Hopefully - however the cause of concern is that properties that completed long after mine on the same road have shown up on the land registry (I completed in May 2021, the other two doors down in July 2021, and the other in September 2021 - both are showing as updated)

canaldumidi

JFort said:

Tiglet2 said:

Do you remember the solicitor specifically mentioning/asking you for additional monies for a Notice of Transfer and Charge (Notices)? 

The management company issue their management pack some time after the transaction has started which details any fees needed. 

The solicitor won't know what additional monies will be needed when you first instruct them, but they should have come up during the course of the conveyancing.  Your solicitor would then let you know that they require extra monies to cover the cost of the Notices.  It is not an optional fee.  If you didn't pay it, the solicitor would not issue the Notices.

Why don't you look through all the paperwork you were given throughout the conveyancing and see what the management pack says about their fees and whether your solicitor did request monies from you to pay for the Notices.

If the solicitor didn't request any fees from you or even advise that they needed to issues Notices, then they will need to do it now (once you've paid the appropriate fee).  The Notices need to be 'receipted' by the Management Company and sent back to the solicitor to confirm that the change of owner (and any lender's charge) has been acknowledged and noted in their records.

It may be that the solicitor did send the Notices, but the management company have lost them.  If so, your solicitor will have to send duplicates and a copy of the bank statement showing that the fees were paid.  

Either way, it is your solicitor that you need to speak to in order to find out what's gone wrong.

I understand I need to speak to my Conveyancer - but I suppose my question is more where do I go next if they refuse to engage with me (as they have been doing for the last year).

Step1 is to follow the frm's published Complaints Procedure. It should be on their website and/or in the paperwork they sent you at the start.

Step 2 if that fails is to refer the matter to the SRA or Legal Ombudsman. See

https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/instructing/your-right-to-complain/

Tiglet2

JFort said:

Tiglet2 said:

With regard to the Land Registry application, there are lots of delays on registrations.

As User1977 says above, it may be that the application is still pending, rather than the solicitor has not submitted the application.

Hopefully - however the cause of concern is that properties that completed long after mine on the same road have shown up on the land registry (I completed in May 2021, the other two doors down in July 2021, and the other in September 2021 - both are showing as updated)

There was a big rush on completions before the stamp duty cut off at the end of June 2021 and again in September 2021.  If your solicitor was super busy, it may be that they didn't submit their application until these deadlines had passed.  However, if you ask the Land Registry Rep on here when the application was submitted (you will need to give them the title number), they will give you some idea how long it will take.  

Tiglet2

JFort said:

Tiglet2 said:

Do you remember the solicitor specifically mentioning/asking you for additional monies for a Notice of Transfer and Charge (Notices)? 

The management company issue their management pack some time after the transaction has started which details any fees needed. 

The solicitor won't know what additional monies will be needed when you first instruct them, but they should have come up during the course of the conveyancing.  Your solicitor would then let you know that they require extra monies to cover the cost of the Notices.  It is not an optional fee.  If you didn't pay it, the solicitor would not issue the Notices.

Why don't you look through all the paperwork you were given throughout the conveyancing and see what the management pack says about their fees and whether your solicitor did request monies from you to pay for the Notices.

If the solicitor didn't request any fees from you or even advise that they needed to issues Notices, then they will need to do it now (once you've paid the appropriate fee).  The Notices need to be 'receipted' by the Management Company and sent back to the solicitor to confirm that the change of owner (and any lender's charge) has been acknowledged and noted in their records.

It may be that the solicitor did send the Notices, but the management company have lost them.  If so, your solicitor will have to send duplicates and a copy of the bank statement showing that the fees were paid.  

Either way, it is your solicitor that you need to speak to in order to find out what's gone wrong.

Hi Tiglet, and thanks for this detailed response. Its super helpful.

I have just checked back and yes, the management pack was issued back in February 2021 and outlined the fees for transfers. My completion statement outlines that I paid this fee as an 'allocation of service charge' (the amount is as per the management pack received, so I am presuming it is this).

I understand I need to speak to my Conveyancer - but I suppose my question is more where do I go next if they refuse to engage with me (as they have been doing for the last year).

An 'allocation of service charge' is surely the sum worked out as an apportionment of the yearly service charge split between the previous owner and you for the period when the previous owner owned the property (prior to May 2021) and the period when you owned the property (from May 2021) until the end of the service charge year, whenever that is.

I would expect your completion statement to show a separate fee for Notices.

I am sorry that you are having difficulty speaking to your solicitor, but they are the people you need to have dealing with this.  Perhaps consider writing a letter of complaint to their client care department.