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Sueing conveyancing solicitor

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Jessicashaw
Jessicashaw Posts: 3 Newbie
in House buying, renting & selling
Hello. My partner bought the property he is now selling 2 years ago ,we used a different conveyancing solicitor to the one we are now using to sell. Our buyers solicitor has made us aware of three issues. Firstly our property is not clearly defined in the lease ( our property is a flat) secondly our right of way stops well before our allicated parking space. thirdly ground rent is £300 per annum, this could technically mean the landlord Could treat our property as an assured stortford tenancy.

The fact that these issues were not highlighted two years ago by his solicitor when my partner purchased the flat could have swayed whether or not he purchased it at all. We have so far forked out almost 1000 pounds to our landlords solicitors for them to look into the lease and expect a figure in the thousands for a deed of variation,as well as being at risk of loosing our buyers. Do we have grounds to sue the solicitors used to purchase the property two years ago?


Kind regards

Jessica
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Comments

  • sal_III
    sal_III Posts: 1,953 Forumite
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    Jessicashaw wrote: »
    ground rent is £300 per annum, this could technically mean the landlord Could treat our property as an assured stortford tenancy.
    Assured what? Do you mean assured shorthold tenancy?

    I don't see how ground rent of £300 (which is more or less normal amount) can make the Freeholder treat you (the leaseholder) as AST?

    Where are you getting all these crazy ideas from?

    Right of way to you parking spot? Isn't your parking spot part of the same freehold, in which case there should be no right of way involved? Or is it on a another plot with a different freeholder?

    Why are you paying money to the freeholder solicitor, not yours?
  • Jessicashaw
    Jessicashaw Posts: 3 Newbie
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    Yes shorthold. We paid £360 to landlords agents solicitors through our solicitor for an information pack for our buyers which didn't solve their queries then £600 through our solicitors to our landlords solicitors to look into the lease. Our buyers solicitors claim anything over £250 per year means the landlord Could 're possess property if ground rent isn't paid. We are feeling fleeced
  • davidmcn
    davidmcn Posts: 23,596 Forumite
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    Jessicashaw wrote: »
    Our buyers solicitors claim anything over £250 per year means the landlord Could 're possess property if ground rent isn't paid.
    And what do your solicitors think?
  • mije1983
    mije1983 Posts: 3,665 Forumite
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    edited 19 July 2018 at 9:52PM
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    Jessicashaw wrote: »
    Our buyers solicitors claim anything over £250 per year means the landlord Could 're possess property if ground rent isn't paid. We are feeling fleeced

    A quick Google suggests you should ignore your buyers solicitors.....
    The freeholder can take legal action against you for not paying ground rent.
    The freeholder can apply for a court order to:
    • recover what you owe
    • get possession of the property - this is called forfeiture action
    The freeholder can only start forfeiture action if you:
    • have been in arrears for three years or more
    • owe £350 or more in ground rent (or a combination of ground rent, services charges and administration charges)
    https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/shared_ownership_leasehold/ground_rent_for_leaseholders

    and

    https://www.stepchange.org/debt-info/service-and-ground-charge-arrears.aspx


    Note it is over £350, not £250. But is it really something to be concerned about? It's a cost that you factor into buying a property, just like a mortgage payment. In the same way, if you don't pay that the lender could repossess.
  • da_rule
    da_rule Posts: 3,618 Forumite
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    I think there has been some serious miscommunication somewhere. A freeholder can determine a long lease if there is unpaid ground rent of more than £350 or if the ground rent has not been paid for 3 years. However, the ground rent must be formally demanded, on the prescribed form, before the forfeiture proceedings can proceed, and even then they can be easily defended by paying the ground rent.

    I would not worry about suing the conveyancer who acted during the purchase, I would have much greater concerns about your current conveyancer who does not appear to understand ground rent provisions in a lease or, from the sounds of it, leasehold in general as I assume he is passing this information from the other side directly to you.
  • sal_III
    sal_III Posts: 1,953 Forumite
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    Yes in theory the freeholder can seek forfeiture for unpaid ground rent, or other fees but in practice this will never happen and there is no limit of more or less than £250 for this to be theoretically possible. This is valid for every single Leasehold out there.

    If your solicitor wasn't able to explain this for free and advised you to pay money to your freeholder solicitor I would drop him like a hot temperature as he seems to be quite incompetent. Same goes for looking at the lease, you and your solicitor should have a copy of the lease and if the buyer has queries he should pay his own solicitor to explain it to him. I fail to understand why this had to go to the freeholder solicitor.
  • AdrianC
    AdrianC Posts: 42,189 Forumite
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    And that £350 is total debt, not annual rent.

    If the annual rent is £100, and you owe 3.5 yrs, then that's £350.
  • eddddy
    eddddy Posts: 16,509 Forumite
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    In fact, it seems there is an extra risk of forfeiture when ground rent is higher than £250.

    Here's explanations from a couple of law firms:

    https://www.mishcon.com/news/publications/real_insights_-_property_update_05_2017/assured_tenancy_traps__the_unexpected_ast_05_2017

    https://www.coles-miller.co.uk/news/blog/pay-your-ground-rent-on-time-or-risk-losing-your-property.html
  • Jessicashaw
    Jessicashaw Posts: 3 Newbie
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    They seem to agree I assume as they are passing us this information as something that needs to be fixed through our landlord, I will speak to our solicitors (if I can get hold of them today) querying why they've gone along with this as it's obviously ridiculous
    Thank you
  • sal_III
    sal_III Posts: 1,953 Forumite
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    I would like to see the first Freeholder trying this in court and burning in flames.
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