Incorrect LPE1 form, Solicitor blames freeholder

Ksw3

I dont know much about leases etc but isn't the property report to advise you on buying which includes many different items. You've bought it now so I wouldn't think you would need to rely on the report. The lease supercedes what is in the report surely?

If you were to sell, the buyers solicitor would consider and make their own report based on the newly available lease.

If you're not looking for compensation as a result of greater liability then I'm not sure what updating a piece of paper that has been superceded would add other than some administrative clarity.

loubel

Your solicitor could only report to you with the information they had at the time. If the information has subsequently changed that does not oblige the solicitor to write a new report. What is the information that has changed? 

loubel

Your solicitor could only report to you with the information they had at the time. If the information has subsequently changed that does not oblige the solicitor to write a new report. What is the information that has changed? 

user1977

Did they at least say in the original report that it was based on the information in the LPE1? If so then I can see their point - you're now asking them to do work which wasn't part of the original deal, and they're entitled to be paid for that (if they want to do it at all).

And as others have said, I'm not sure such a report is necessarily all that useful for future waving in the face of neighbours if you have a dispute.

Mildreds_Earrings

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?

Apologies for not being clear. 

The apartment was sold to me without a lease, so the former owners provided indemnity insurance. 

My conveyancing solicitor provided a property report solely based on the freeholder's LPE1 report which is incorrect.

I have managed to obtain the lease that my solicitor could not find, although the freeholder's solicitors managed to find it two years prior. 

I have gone back to my conveyancing solicitor, provided them with the lease and asked for a property report now that I know the one she originally provided is incorrect. Their response is in the original post. 

Mildreds_Earrings

@edddy

• 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. 

To answer your questions, nobody could find the lease. That's why the previous owners provided indemnity insurance. 

Mildreds_Earrings

eddddy said:

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?

The outcome I requested from my conveyancing solicitor, is a new and correct property report now that I have been given the lease, to show to the two other parties, as how we interpret the lease is in dispute. 

eddddy

OK - so I'll have another go at trying to interpret what you're saying.

• You agree that your conveyancing solicitor did nothing wrong

• But you are now in a dispute with other parties about the meaning of your lease (and perhaps the meaning of 2 other leases)

So you want to ask a solicitor for legal advice about the meaning of your lease (in the form of a report) - and presumably you'll pay for that legal advice. You could ask your original conveyancing solicitor for advice, or any other property solicitor.

(But don't necessarily expect the other parties to take notice of the legal advice that your solicitor gives to you.)




But... Why are you 'arguing' with the other leaseholders about this? Normally, your dispute would be with the freeholder - because your lease is a contract between you and the freeholder.

Is there something specific in the lease that means you are responsible for resolving this with the other leaseholders?

eddddy

just another note....

If the argument is about how the cost of roof repairs is split between leaseholders - you can probably get that resolved by a tribunal. And the fee would be £100.

(And no solicitors fees at all.)

user1977

Mildreds_Earrings said:

eddddy said:

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?

The outcome I requested from my conveyancing solicitor, is a new and correct property report now that I have been given the lease, to show to the two other parties, as how we interpret the lease is in dispute. 

Ok - but that's a new job, not part of the original transaction. So you should expect to pay for it.