Solicitors have gone into Liquidation ... What next?

WalkingWonders

I purchased a new-build property in 2023 (completed October 2023)
The Management Company of the development requested documents from my solicitors to set my account up.
After nearly 2 years of chasing my solicitors, I finally got a response that the Solicitors' firm has gone into liquidation and an intervening solicitor will take over. I get in contact with the new Solicitors, and I am advised I need to complete a few documents to be able to give them access to provide me with what I need (and what the management company need) - One of these documents is a letter from my mortgage company advising that they give consent to the solicitors to provide me this information. 
I contact the Mortgage Lender and request this. I then get told the below
"We are unable to consent to the files being released to you directly from Stephensons as we need to know which Solicitor will be instructed to complete the registration of your property and our mortgage.There is an application they submitted currently at the Land Registry but as there outstanding queries raised by the Land registry a warning of cancellation has been issued please see below:"
"but you will be liable for any costs."

What do I do now? How is this fair? My solicitors from start to finish were awful. Pure neglect. Now they are gone. And no one seems to be able to help without charging me more. 

daveyjp

Stephensons will have been appointed to merely look after the files, not to take on your case.

You need to appoint a new solicitor (and pay them) and they will apply to Stephensons for the files and complete your conveyance.

WalkingWonders

daveyjp said:

Stephensons will have been appointed to merely look after the files, not to take on your case.

You need to appoint a new solicitor (and pay them) and they will apply to Stephensons for the files and complete your conveyance.

Thanks; I appreciate that but unsure how it’s fair I’ve paid a solicitor to do a job already. They couldn’t finish the job and now I have to pay it all again!

Yorkie1

You may be able to claim compensation from the solicitors' compensation fund.  But focus on the actual paperwork etc for now.

ExEstateAgent

WalkingWonders said:

daveyjp said:

Stephensons will have been appointed to merely look after the files, not to take on your case.

You need to appoint a new solicitor (and pay them) and they will apply to Stephensons for the files and complete your conveyance.

Thanks; I appreciate that but unsure how it’s fair I’ve paid a solicitor to do a job already. They couldn’t finish the job and now I have to pay it all again!

That's the same with most firms that go bust. I would never buy someone gift vouchers for example. There's been plenty of instances of the store going bust leaving people with worthless vouchers. 

If you paid the solicitor by credit card there might be some redress there. You paid a business to do work for you, that business has gone bust so you need to get another business to do the work now. 

user1977

WalkingWonders said:

daveyjp said:

Stephensons will have been appointed to merely look after the files, not to take on your case.

You need to appoint a new solicitor (and pay them) and they will apply to Stephensons for the files and complete your conveyance.

Thanks; I appreciate that but unsure how it’s fair I’ve paid a solicitor to do a job already. They couldn’t finish the job and now I have to pay it all again!

Well, why would it be fair for anybody else to do it for free?

WalkingWonders

user1977 said:

WalkingWonders said:

daveyjp said:

Stephensons will have been appointed to merely look after the files, not to take on your case.

You need to appoint a new solicitor (and pay them) and they will apply to Stephensons for the files and complete your conveyance.

Thanks; I appreciate that but unsure how it’s fair I’ve paid a solicitor to do a job already. They couldn’t finish the job and now I have to pay it all again!

Well, why would it be fair for anybody else to do it for free?

Surely there is so,mething in place, like insurance, to cover when these things happen. Especially considering I have lived in the property for nearly 2 years. 

user1977

WalkingWonders said:

user1977 said:

WalkingWonders said:

daveyjp said:

Stephensons will have been appointed to merely look after the files, not to take on your case.

You need to appoint a new solicitor (and pay them) and they will apply to Stephensons for the files and complete your conveyance.

Thanks; I appreciate that but unsure how it’s fair I’ve paid a solicitor to do a job already. They couldn’t finish the job and now I have to pay it all again!

Well, why would it be fair for anybody else to do it for free?

Surely there is so,mething in place, like insurance, to cover when these things happen. Especially considering I have lived in the property for nearly 2 years. 

Any such insurance would have been for you to obtain, prior to the event - and I'm not aware of such a product being generally available anyway.

MyRealNameToo

WalkingWonders said:

daveyjp said:

Stephensons will have been appointed to merely look after the files, not to take on your case.

You need to appoint a new solicitor (and pay them) and they will apply to Stephensons for the files and complete your conveyance.

Thanks; I appreciate that but unsure how it’s fair I’ve paid a solicitor to do a job already. They couldn’t finish the job and now I have to pay it all again!

A company has gone bust, there will be lots that are out of pocket as a consequence. 

WalkingWonders said:

user1977 said:

WalkingWonders said:

daveyjp said:

Stephensons will have been appointed to merely look after the files, not to take on your case.

You need to appoint a new solicitor (and pay them) and they will apply to Stephensons for the files and complete your conveyance.

Thanks; I appreciate that but unsure how it’s fair I’ve paid a solicitor to do a job already. They couldn’t finish the job and now I have to pay it all again!

Well, why would it be fair for anybody else to do it for free?

Surely there is so,mething in place, like insurance, to cover when these things happen. Especially considering I have lived in the property for nearly 2 years. 

What insurances did you buy? There are lots of options out there but most people decide to retain some risk themselves rather than buying insurance on everything. 

If they were solicitors rather than licensed conveyancers then the SRA run a compensation fund but can't say I've any experience with them nor can confirm they cover outstanding work if a firm goes bust. 

Yorkie1

SRA | Compensation fund | Solicitors Regulation Authority

user1977

Yorkie1 said:

SRA | Compensation fund | Solicitors Regulation Authority

The compensation fund is for lost money (e.g. solicitor empties their client account and takes a one-way ticket to Brazil), not finishing off the job which the firm was in the middle of doing.