Incorrect LPE1 form, Solicitor blames freeholder

Mildreds_Earrings

Hello there, in December 2022, the freeholder for the building completed the LPE1 form and split the responsibility for each leaseholder incorrectly. My conveyancing solicitor based her property report solely upon the information contained on the LPE1 form, and I then purchased the property in January 2023, based on my Solicitor's property report. 

In November 2023, I contacted the conveyancer solicitor and provided the correct information based on the lease (which they said they could not find, yet the freeholder's solicitor sourced it from the Land Registry) to ask that they provide a correct property now that they are aware of their errors. The conveyancing solicitor told me to make a complaint to the firm, which I did, and this is their response : 

If I am to consider a complaint with the service provided in the conveyancing purchase, it shall be with reference to and limited to the period of engagement only. The agreed works as outlined in the engagement letter have now ended.

If the complaint is perceived “advice” related, which claim is strongly refuted, then I am afraid that I cannot assist you. Rather, you shall need to seek independent legal advice.

The fact of the matter is, the advice is between the Freeholder's solicitors and their client, the Freehold owner (Landlord) and Leasehold owner (Tenant of the ground floor flat). It begs the question why documents have not been filed. It further begs the question why the Landlord`s legal responses to your Seller (LPE1 form during the conveyancing transaction) differ from the Landlord`s legal responses to you as Buyer (after completion of the conveyancing transaction). 

Upon an initial inspection of the case system, I am satisfied that this firm has acted in line with Conveyancing Protocol and has fully reported to you with the information and documentation supplied by the sale solicitors with the contract pack, landlord/management pack, and replies to enquiries upon which basis you provided authority to proceed.

The fact that the Landlord now produces documentation and information after completion of the sale which, it appears from the facts before me, was not available to your seller prior to completion of the sale is entirely beyond the firm`s control and is not related to the firm`s service.

Now they have washed their hands off me, what can I do? They appear to have closed my complaint, without even investigating it, on the basis that the freeholder's advice on the LPE1 form now differs from what he's saying now. Whilst that's correct, surely it's not the freeholders fault (a lay person). Why would a qualified Solicitor base all their findings on the LPE1 form? They claim they could not find the lease but the freeholders solicitor managed to source the lease from the Land Registry some two years BEFORE my property purchase. 

The incorrect property report means that I am more responsible and financially obligated for major works that I thought but even though I will be affected financially, I did not seek financial recourse from this firm, so I am taken aback at their rude response. 

Apart from seeking advice from a negligence solicitor, which is what the firm seem to be telling me to do, alarmingly so, is there anything else I can do? 

 Thank you. 

eddddy

Mildreds_Earrings said:

... I did not seek financial recourse from this firm, so I am taken aback at their rude response...

If you're not seeking compensation (or financial recourse) from your solicitor, what outcome are you looking for?


Do you mean you want to sue the freeholder for misrepresentation?

Mildreds_Earrings

eddddy said:

Mildreds_Earrings said:

... I did not seek financial recourse from this firm, so I am taken aback at their rude response...

If you're not seeking compensation (or financial recourse) from your solicitor, what outcome are you looking for?


Do you mean you want to sue the freeholder for misrepresentation?

Hello @edddy I want my Solicitor to provide a correct version of the property report, especially now that I have provided the lease agreement, which they could not source for themselves. I am not seeking financial compensation from anyone.

As I have the incorrect information on the solicitors property report, I have no document to depend on when issues arise with the other leaseholders. Me telling them how I have interpreted the lease won't cut it. I need an official document from my Solicitor, not their incorrect property report. That's all I have asked for. 

NameUnavailable

It's not clear what the actual issue here is.

The lease is the lease, regardless of whatever anything else says. Read your lease and if anyone says anything that conflicts with what's in the lease, refer them to the lease.

Mildreds_Earrings

NameUnavailable said:

It's not clear what the actual issue here is.

The lease is the lease, regardless of whatever anything else says. Read your lease and if anyone says anything that conflicts with what's in the lease, refer them to the lease.

The issue is that my conveyancing solicitor provided the wrong information in the property report. The 150 year old lease is not clear and that is why I need a legal document from my Solicitor with the correct interpretation of the lease, to present to the other two leaseholders. 

eddddy

Mildreds_Earrings said:

As I have the incorrect information on the solicitors property report, I have no document to depend on when issues arise with the other leaseholders. Me telling them how I have interpreted the lease won't cut it. I need an official document from my Solicitor, not their incorrect property report. That's all I have asked for. 

It would be the other way round.  The leases would be the official documents - not a report written by your solicitor.

The other leaseholders would rely on what their leases say - not what a report written by your solicitor says.

And similarly, the freeholder would rely on what your lease says - not what a report written by your solicitor says.



(If any of them are unsure what a clause in a lease means, I guess you can offer to show them your solicitor's report - they might take notice of what your solicitor has said. But if it's something important, they'd probably be better off getting their own legal advice about the clause from their own solicitors.)

Mildreds_Earrings

eddddy said:

Mildreds_Earrings said:

As I have the incorrect information on the solicitors property report, I have no document to depend on when issues arise with the other leaseholders. Me telling them how I have interpreted the lease won't cut it. I need an official document from my Solicitor, not their incorrect property report. That's all I have asked for. 

It would be the other way round.  The leases would be the official documents - not a report written by your solicitor.

The other leaseholders would rely on what their leases say - not what a report written by your solicitor says.

And similarly, the freeholder would rely on what your lease says - not what a report written by your solicitor says.

Agreed but my solicitor based her entire property report on the LPE1 form completed by the freeholder, not on the lease. This is also confirmed in the Firm's response. The freeholder has since admitted that he got things wrong and his memory is not what it was. The firm is throwing the freeholder under the bus, sayings it's his fault, even though it's the firm I paid for an accurate property report, not the freeholder. 

eddddy

Mildreds_Earrings said:

Agreed but my solicitor based her entire property report on the LPE1 form completed by the freeholder, not on the lease. This is also confirmed in the Firm's response. The freeholder has since admitted that he got things wrong and his memory is not what it was. The firm is throwing the freeholder under the bus, sayings it's his fault, even though it's the firm I paid for an accurate property report, not the freeholder. 

Yes - I understood that from your original post.

So what outcome are you looking for? You haven't explained.


For example, as a wild guess... Is it that there are still things in your lease that you don't understand, and you want your solicitor to write a report that explains the things you don't understand?

Or something else?

eddddy

Mildreds_Earrings said:

Agreed but my solicitor based her entire property report on the LPE1 form completed by the freeholder, not on the lease. 

Just to add - in a previous thread you made a passing reference to buying a property with "Missing Lease Indemnity Insurance".

Is it this property that was sold to you without a lease?

If so, how could your solicitor report on the lease, if the property is being sold without a lease?

Jonboy_1984

eddddy said:

Mildreds_Earrings said:

Agreed but my solicitor based her entire property report on the LPE1 form completed by the freeholder, not on the lease. 

Just to add - in a previous thread you made a passing reference to buying a property with "Missing Lease Indemnity Insurance".

Is it this property that was sold to you without a lease?

If so, how could your solicitor report on the lease, if the property is being sold without a lease?

In their OP:
” They claim they could not find the lease but the freeholders solicitor managed to source the lease from the Land Registry some two years BEFORE my property purchase. ”

eddddy

Jonboy_1984 said:

In their OP:
” They claim they could not find the lease but the freeholders solicitor managed to source the lease from the Land Registry some two years BEFORE my property purchase. ”

Yep - I saw that. Assuming it's the same property, I think that demonstrates that the OP seems very confused about a number of things.



Once again, because the OP can't explain what has happened, all anyone can do is make wild guesses.

So here's another wild guess... Maybe something like this happened....

• The seller of the flat said "I'm selling a flat but the lease is missing"

• The OP said "OK - I'll buy the flat with a missing lease - with 'missing lease indemnity insurance'"

• The management company provided an LPE1 to the seller

• The OP's solicitor reported on the LPE1, because that was all the seller provided

Now the OP seems to be claiming...

• The flat had a lease registered with Land Registry - because the Freeholder found the registered lease 2 years earlier

• Firstly, that's kind-of irrelevant - because presumably the freeholder wasn't the seller of the flat

• It's up to the seller to provide the lease for the buyer. If there was a lease registered with Land Registry, why didn't the seller provide it?

• What did the seller's solicitor say when the buyer's solicitor asked them for a copy of the lease?