House sale fell through..Help!!

Damiank

Hi,
I'm new to this site and wondered if anyone can help me.

I accepted an offer on my property in january, and a survey was carried out in Feb.
I have since found 2 properties and carried our surveys and searches etc at a cost of over £1000.
I found out on Monday 14/04 that the buyer pulled out on 22/02 but nobody told me. My solicitors tell me that they knew, but were under no obligation to tell me, and it was the estate agents job. The estate agent says that they didn't know.

My problem is that my solicitors have been cashing cheques and progressing with my purchase, when all along they knew that i hadn't sold my house.

Do i have any comeback. I wan't my money back basically.

silvercar

My solicitors tell me that they knew, but were under no obligation to tell me,

If this is true, I would put a complaint in through your solicitors complaints procedure and then take it to the Law Society.

I can't actually believe it is true! Your solicitor acts for you, how can they continue a purchase knowing your sale has dropped. How can they not tell you the sale has fallen through?

Damiank

Thanks for the advice. I wiil try that.
It is true and i've lost my purchase now, which means that i have wasted a lot of money.

Gary_Connor_1955

That seems very unfair.

Do you have proof that the solicitors knew the sale had fallen through?

Benefits_Blagger

Damiank wrote: »

My problem is that my solicitors have been cashing cheques and progressing with my purchase, when all along they knew that i hadn't sold my house.

Do i have any comeback. I wan't my money back basically.

I'm no legal expert, but wouldnt the purchase of the house you wanted constitute a different transaction to the purchase of your house ?

Damiank

I don't have proof, only that my solicitors have told me that they received a letter on 22/02 informing them that the sale had fallen through. So i should be able to get a copy of that letter.

chickmug

Damiank wrote: »

The estate agent says that they didn't know.

Well your agent should of been keeping an eye on the progress and not got to a point where, after so long, they said they didn't know. Really crap service. Hope you asked them for a explanation and are they members of any professional bodies?

Debt_Free_Chick

Benefits_Blagger wrote: »

I'm no legal expert, but wouldnt the purchase of the house you wanted constitute a different transaction to the purchase of your house ?

I think this is the crux of the matter. Your solicitor wouldn't simply assume that you didn't want the purchase to go ahead. They will be duty bound to continue until you tell them otherwise.

However, they only needed to make one quick phone call to you to confirm whether or not you were going ahead. Odd that they didn't - but I think the chances of you getting any financial redress are finely balanced. Go through the complaints procedure and see what happens.

Rachman_2

So let me get this right, for about 2 months you did not ask your estate agent what was going on ? Because you thought your solicitor would do it all for you ? Seriously ?

He was instructed (by you) to act on one sale and two purchases. He did that. Maybe not with the best common sense in the world, but you get what you pay for - pay next to nothing out in fees on the biggest purchases of your life and.....

I am chuckling a bit that you are blaming the solicitor for not telling you the sale had fallen through - but you did not bother checking it was all going OK.... - so it must be all his fault, after all, it can't be anything to do with you....

barnaby-bear

Damiank wrote: »

Hi,
I'm new to this site and wondered if anyone can help me.

I accepted an offer on my property in january, and a survey was carried out in Feb.
I have since found 2 properties and carried our surveys and searches etc at a cost of over £1000.
I found out on Monday 14/04 that the buyer pulled out on 22/02 but nobody told me. My solicitors tell me that they knew, but were under no obligation to tell me, and it was the estate agents job. The estate agent says that they didn't know.

My problem is that my solicitors have been cashing cheques and progressing with my purchase, when all along they knew that i hadn't sold my house.

Do i have any comeback. I wan't my money back basically.

The estate agent is only obligated to the seller they had no duty to tell you anything. Your solicitor assumed you were continuing with your purchase because you didn't instruct them otherwise, just because you weren't selling your house they had no reason to assume there was any need to tell you the buyer had withdrawn (they probably assumed you knew - had chased it) and you continued to instruct them (or didn't change instructions) re: your purchase. Lots of people buy houses without selling one why should they have assumed you were not in this situation.

maninthestreet

barnaby-bear wrote: »

The estate agent is only obligated to the seller they had no duty to tell you anything. Your solicitor assumed you were continuing with your purchase because you didn't instruct them otherwise, just because you weren't selling your house they had no reason to assume there was any need to tell you the buyer had withdrawn (they probably assumed you knew - had chased it) and you continued to instruct them (or didn't change instructions) re: your purchase. Lots of people buy houses without selling one why should they have assumed you were not in this situation.

The OP is the seller! The OP may have a number of skills, but I'm sure mind-reading is not one of them.