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Solicitor held my money for 20 years should I get interest on top of the capital amount
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delilahdelilah
Posts: 53 Forumite
My solicitors who acted in conveyance for me in a sale of my property just contacted me.
They found they had accidentally withheld a significant amount of money on my file/account - unbeknown to me. They rang me to ask for my details to pay me the amount. After confirming it was the solicitors and not a scam they took my details to reimburse me. My question is should they be paying interest on my funds they have held for 20 years
thanks in advance
They found they had accidentally withheld a significant amount of money on my file/account - unbeknown to me. They rang me to ask for my details to pay me the amount. After confirming it was the solicitors and not a scam they took my details to reimburse me. My question is should they be paying interest on my funds they have held for 20 years
thanks in advance
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Comments
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Welcome to the forum.delilahdelilah said:My solicitors who acted in conveyance for me in a sale of my property just contacted me.
They found they had accidentally withheld a significant amount of money on my file/account - unbeknown to me. They rang me to ask for my details to pay me the amount. After confirming it was the solicitors and not a scam they took my details to reimburse me. My question is should they be paying interest on my funds they have held for 20 years
thanks in advance
The short answer is Yes.
This is about the SRA's infamous Rule 7, which says that solicitors must pay a 'fair' rate of interest on clients' accounts.
I am sure they will do this, especially over such a long period. When you finally get your reimbursement you should get a full breakdown of the figures.
Interest rates have been good recently and were quite good before the crash but during those 20 years we have had many years when interest rates were practically nothing.4 -
Have they actually said they’re not planning to add interest?3
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Depends perhaps also on what your contract or terms agreed with them says.
You are lucky they didn't go bust...1 -
Going bust shouldn't matter in relation to client monies (separate account, not for the firm's creditors to get at). In fact going bust might have brought it to somebody's attention a bit soonertheartfullodger said:
You are lucky they didn't go bust...
4 -
They have been financed over 20 years by the OP's money ... who knows what will happen when it's repaid.theartfullodger said:
You are lucky they didn't go bust...
1 -
No, they haven't. The solicitor cannot use client funds for the running of their business. Clients funds are held in a separate account as the money has to be ringfenced.martindow said:
They have been financed over 20 years by the OP's money ... who knows what will happen when it's repaid.theartfullodger said:
You are lucky they didn't go bust...8 -
and there's never been an example of solicitors not abiding by the rules? Aye, right, just like nobody ever drives faster than 70mph on UK roads...MEM62 said:
No, they haven't. The solicitor cannot use client funds for the running of their business. Clients funds are held in a separate account as the money has to be ringfenced.martindow said:
They have been financed over 20 years by the OP's money ... who knows what will happen when it's repaid.theartfullodger said:
You are lucky they didn't go bust...2 -
They'd be less likely to go bust if they were helping themselves to client money...theartfullodger said:
and there's never been an example of solicitors not abiding by the rules? Aye, right, just like nobody ever drives faster than 70mph on UK roads...MEM62 said:
No, they haven't. The solicitor cannot use client funds for the running of their business. Clients funds are held in a separate account as the money has to be ringfenced.martindow said:
They have been financed over 20 years by the OP's money ... who knows what will happen when it's repaid.theartfullodger said:
You are lucky they didn't go bust...2 -
Like all professions and organisations, there will be those in it that are more challenged in their moral standing than others. No institution escapes that. However, as there is a requirement for the Solicitors' Regulatory Authority to audit client accounts annually, the opportunity for them not abide by the rules in this particular area is somewhat restricted.theartfullodger said:
and there's never been an example of solicitors not abiding by the rules?MEM62 said:
No, they haven't. The solicitor cannot use client funds for the running of their business. Clients funds are held in a separate account as the money has to be ringfenced.martindow said:
They have been financed over 20 years by the OP's money ... who knows what will happen when it's repaid.theartfullodger said:
You are lucky they didn't go bust...3 -
Plus there’s a fund to compensate clients if they did lose money for such reasons.MEM62 said:
Like all professions and organisations, there will be those in it that are more challenged in their moral standing than others. No institution escapes that. However, as there is a requirement for the Solicitors' Regulatory Authority to audit client accounts annually, the opportunity for them not abide by the rules in this particular area is somewhat restricted.theartfullodger said:
and there's never been an example of solicitors not abiding by the rules?MEM62 said:
No, they haven't. The solicitor cannot use client funds for the running of their business. Clients funds are held in a separate account as the money has to be ringfenced.martindow said:
They have been financed over 20 years by the OP's money ... who knows what will happen when it's repaid.theartfullodger said:
You are lucky they didn't go bust...2
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