Help regarding new home rettention

lorr13

My solicitor is saying ive had the retentiion money of 5k...and that they should of withheld it but didn't...

 3yrs later have sent a demanding letter saying i need to pay in 14days...but as far as i have been made aware and what my completion statment  states.... there is NO moneys outstanding.... Unless they mucked there figures up on my completion figures? None of it makes sense.... I have emailed all of this this evening to the solicitors as suggested by CA and demanded a detailed info as to how they think i owe this money and a response by Friday... Also have said i shall be making a formam complaint 

lorr13

The devolper came up with this retentiion scheme in march 2019 as so many faults with properties..
There proposal was for solicitors to b able to withhold 1.5% of the purchase value until customers were satisfied any works or issues were dealt with appropriately... 

silvercar

lorr13 said:

The devolper came up with this retentiion scheme in march 2019 as so many faults with properties..
There proposal was for solicitors to b able to withhold 1.5% of the purchase value until customers were satisfied any works or issues were dealt with appropriately... 

now it’s starting to make sense.

so has the developer sorted out the faults? And are now asking for their money? And the solicitor realises that he didn’t actually retain it from you?

TheJP

lorr13 said:

Ok, so the completion statement shows full payment to persimmon homes for our purchase price... And the balance due to us that we received was not 5k up.. All the figures added up...

Spoke to CA today and they said if the full amount due to the seller is in your completion statment, which it is.. Then how have they come up with us owing the retention that they should of witheld? Surely the purchase  price would of been on the statment 5k less? As they should of retained it.. 

Full purchase price and other costs in completion statement all add up to our final balance figure..

So the solicitor must of messed up there figures? 
When they called me in april 2020 they said "ideally we should of retained the money, however this amount is due abd needs to be paid" 

We kept a lot of equity back to pay off a considerable amount of debt as ly husband being self employed had lost a full yrs work due to an operation. 
The balance was paid.. We paid off all our debts and that was it.... Was all gone.. 

why didnt the the solicitors pursue it from April 2020 which was our last communication?

We moved in dec 2019...

last Friday 18th nov 2022 i had this very distressing, demanding solicitor letter that quite frankly has been so distressing as life is tough enough as it is financially and we both work hard. 

You need to look back on your bank statements, did the amount on the completion settlement match what was put into your account? If i8t didn't then you surely would have wondered why you had an extra £5k in your account?

Look back and confirm that you did receive the additional £5k, if you did then i suggest you negotiate with the solicitor on how you can pay it back. Its not ideal but looks like both you and the solicitor are at fault here (if you did in fact receive the additional £5k).

eddddy

silvercar said:

lorr13 said:

The devolper came up with this retentiion scheme in march 2019 as so many faults with properties..
There proposal was for solicitors to b able to withhold 1.5% of the purchase value until customers were satisfied any works or issues were dealt with appropriately... 

now it’s starting to make sense.

so has the developer sorted out the faults? And are now asking for their money? And the solicitor realises that he didn’t actually retain it from you?

Just for interest - here's details of the retention scheme: 
https://www.premiersnag.co.uk/blog/2019/4/14/persimmon-homes-home-buyer-retention-scheme

eddddy

lorr13 said:

My solicitor is saying ive had the retentiion money of 5k...and that they should of withheld it but didn't...

 3yrs later have sent a demanding letter saying i need to pay in 14days...but as far as i have been made aware and what my completion statment  states.... there is NO moneys outstanding.... Unless they mucked there figures up on my completion figures? None of it makes sense.... I have emailed all of this this evening to the solicitors as suggested by CA and demanded a detailed info as to how they think i owe this money and a response by Friday... Also have said i shall be making a formam complaint 

So you're saying that the completion statement you were given 3 years ago shows the full purchase price, and there is no line in the statement saying "Retention" or similar words with a figure of £5k?


One approach might be to ask the solicitors to produce a corrected retention statement - as it should have been produced 3 years ago.

Then you can compare the numbers on the corrected completion statement, with the numbers on the incorrect completion statement you were given 3 years ago.  And see where the error was made.




Edit to add...

Just to be clear -

• did the completion statement show a shortfall? i.e. You had to send the solicitor some more money.

Or

• did the completion statement show a surplus? i.e. The solicitor had to send you some money. If so, did they send you the correct amount? Or did they send you £5k too much? 

lorr13

No short fall... With full price of purchase made all figures correct

user1977

lorr13 said:

No short fall... With full price of purchase made all figures correct

Well this isn't making any sense then - if you've paid the full price then nobody is missing the retention.

lorr13

Exactly my point... But there content of letter received in april 2021 says ideally we should of witheld the retention figure but regardless this payment is now due and needs to be paid by yourself.... 

I wrote back saying how... The completion statment all adds up and full purchase price, as made among other costs.... The balance we was due is correct..

Heard no more... 
So thought no more of it... 

Then Friday i receive a solicitor letter from gilsongrey.. Who ive learnt were home property lawyers.. Threatening if we dont pay within 14 days all sorts... Ive replied stating please explain how u think we owe this money and sent them a copy of our completion statement.... Yet to have a response 

lorr13

The only conclusion i can come up with is if they messed up there figures on the statment? It is driving me insane