Lease Extension and Solicitors Responsibilities

GB2025

My solicitor recently extended my leasehold prior to me marketing and selling my flat.

The same solicitors practice are also now acting on the sale of the property.

It has transpired that the original title of my flat does not delineate between the 2 flats (A and making it difficult to interpret the respective covenants between landlord and tenant and as such the buyer of my flat has said they cannot get a mortgage without a deed of variation.

The buyer will miss the April 1st stamp duty and may now pull out or ask for a reduction in the price because of the increase

My question: Should my solicitor not have seen this issue during the time that they undertook the lease extension process? When I asked my solicitor they have simply said:

“ When the Lease extension was carried out this only dealt with the term of the Lease”.
 
Do they not have more of a responsibility/obligation? At the time of the lease extension my solicitors didn't mention anything about the original title etc. Should they not have investigated/read the deeds etc and rectified any potential issues before the lease was extended? It’s only now (after the lease has been extended) and the sale was to go ahead that I am being told that a deed of variation is required and it was the buyers solicitor who has pointed this out.

I’m going to incur significant costs if the sale falls through or I have to take a hit on the sale price due to the stamp duty increase.

Hope that’s a clear enough question! Apologies for the lengthy question Many Thanks

GB2025

N.B (A and not emoji!

user1977

You'd need to check the scope of work for the previous instruction, but I wouldn't expect an extension of a lease term to include a more general review of the lease, the solicitors would assume you were already satisfied with the demise etc.

GB2025

Thanks. The buyers solicitor wrote: "I am also surprised to see that this was not addressed by the Solicitor who dealt with the Lease Extension…”

user1977

GB2025 said:

Thanks. The buyers solicitor wrote: "I am also surprised to see that this was not addressed by the Solicitor who dealt with the Lease Extension…”

I'm not! It should have been addressed by whoever acted for you when you bought.

Does your current solicitor agree that there is a defect?

GB2025

It wasn't addressed and i got a mortgage so (not being a property lawyer myself!) I wasn't aware of any issues.

I haven't received any feedback from my solicitor re the defect and the fact that the buyer's lender needs it changed to get a mortgage yet.

At first my current solicitor didn't think there was a defect but I assume they do now!

I assumed my current solicitor -  since they did the lease extension and the current conveyancing would have looked at the property details/deeds etc but I guess not - obviously that's not the case and is left up to the buyers solicitor.

If the the original title of my flat does not delineate between the 2 flats I don't actually know how I was able to get a  Lease extension and to what it refers!

GB2025

btw....I thought that a conveyancer has a professional duty to diligently investigate and identify any title defects that could impact my sale? Are you saying that's not the case?

user1977

GB2025 said:

btw....I thought that a conveyancer has a professional duty to diligently investigate and identify any title defects that could impact my sale? Are you saying that's not the case?

Why would they do that for a seller, unless specifically asked e.g. before you put it on the market? You're trying to flog the property, not find problems - they only need to deal with any (alleged) issues which the buyers spot.

AskAsk

they would only deal with extending the lease.  they would not have been instructed or charged for any other work in respect to the lease.

GB2025

AskAsk said:

they would only deal with extending the lease.  they would not have been instructed or charged for any other work in respect to the lease.

So they wouldn't have looked at the deeds/title documents before extending the lease?

user1977

GB2025 said:

AskAsk said:

they would only deal with extending the lease.  they would not have been instructed or charged for any other work in respect to the lease.

So they wouldn't have looked at the deeds/title documents before extending the lease?

Only the parts which were relevant to the job.

You don't get a full medical every time you visit your GP.