Land not transferred by solicitors

jabbabroadley

That’s great, many thanks all 👍

saajan_12

Bottom line, if either party had spotted (you or your solicitors) then the problem could have been investigated and avoided, regardless of how good the other one was. So makes sense to split the cost but HOW to split is subjective based on who made the bigger mistake and should have been reasonably expected to spot it. 
* You are a layperson, but actually visited the site and knew there was a garden larger than the red outline showed. 
* Solicitor is the professional, but then had a small hint of there being 2 titles, which wasn't super clear. 

Ultimately would be up to a judge on how to split that, no one can give you a definitive answer. You have to decide whether to accept the solicitor's 25% contribution or sue, incur further costs and take the risk on that % being higher or lower.

wilfred30

jabbabroadley said:

Hi All,

To add to our misery, the builders company that owned the land has been dissolved and the land parcel in question has been transfer to the Crown. Our negligent solicitors have stated it will cost circa £10k to get it transferred back and will only cover a small percentage of that (circa 25%).

Was your solicitor's offer made verbally or in writing?  

If in writing, did they use the phrase 'Without Prejudice' and/or say that they were making a contribution to the cost as a gesture of goodwill?

jabbabroadley

They said “Without Prejudice”, what is the relevance of this?

Ms_Chocaholic

Are you using the land or is it fenced off?

jabbabroadley

The land is being used and has been fenced off since day 1

Bendy_House

jabbabroadley said:

The land is being used and has been fenced off since day 1

Used by whom?

jabbabroadley

By me, it’s our garden and was fenced off as part of the sale when we viewed, it was in the estate agents floor plan

Bendy_House

And can I ask again, Jabba what does it say - exactly - about you having to check that the boundaries, as marked on the deeds plans provided to you, were correct? 

In what way does their instruction for you to carry out this normal check refer to the included plans - does it mention 'boundary edged in red' for example?

If your conveyancer DID refer to 'checking the boundary edged in red', but did NOT mention any other plot or piece of land, then I'd suggest you are half-way there; you can confirm you were not given the information by your conveyancer.

That leaves you having to 'prove' that the seller's conveyancer DID provide this information to your conveyancer, as they claim. They say they did, but have they provided evidence to you?

If 'yes' - you can prove this - then you chase - threaten/take action against - your conveyancer. Bottom line, these charlatans are fully protected by insurance, so the actual cost to them will be minimalish.

Do you have Legal Protection included in your house insurance?

jabbabroadley

The below is exactly the solicitors comments 

There is no mention of two plots from our solicitor 

The sellers solicitor provided details of the two plots in the property information form ( details above on thread) however didn’t explicitly state that they required to be transferred by our solicitors. Just that they had been transferred to new address, which you cannot do with land as it has to transferred to a person or a company.

it appears within the contract the sellers solicitors did challenge or mention the additional plot. The only information we are aware of from the sellers solicitors to ours about the two plots is in the PIF.