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AIBU?

To ask....do solicitors f***ing realise how there shit work Impacts on real peoples lives

121 replies

Mightbemiddleaged · 10/10/2013 17:42

....because I have been sobbing my heart out all day as the house we have been desperately waiting to move into for five months has now fallen through due to the complete ineptitude of all the solicitors involved.

There was a small legal issue to resolve wrt our sale and it can and should have taken no longer than a month.

Four months later and now no-one wil even respond to our requests for updates or try to hurry the fuck along on our behalf. The vendors of the house we should be buying have lost patience and pulled out, wo can blame them.

It's taken 15 months to get this far from putting house on the market and I literally cannot face the thought of going through this again. I actually feel desperate today and like I'm on the edge of some sort of breakdown.

I actually hate and despise these people the lazy heartless bastards Sad

OP posts:
ILoveTomHardy · 10/10/2013 17:53

What small legal issue?

TwoAndTwoEqualsChaos · 10/10/2013 17:59

Is there not redress through The Law Society?

Mightbemiddleaged · 10/10/2013 18:01

Ilove the boundary of our drive was shown incorrectly and was picked up by the buyers own solicitor. We a on very good terms with the neighbours who were also affected and they agreed to 'help' us rectify the issue. They instructed solicitors ( with the agreement that we would cove costs, which have been held on account now for 4 months!) it's just that neither their or our solicitor have really done anything to actually get the issue resolved legally. It's all so pointless, to have gone through all this for absolutely nothing [sobs]

OP posts:
FreeWee · 10/10/2013 18:02

It's their job; it's your life. You'll always care about your life than they do about their job. I often end up doing people's jobs for them when they seem to be not giving a shit (remortgage, insurance claim on house, recruiting for my maternity cover) but it sounds like it will be too late for you to try and do that. All I'd advise next time is chase chase chase. Don't care about being annoying! So sorry to hear this is taking its toll on you. Hope whatever happens next is for the best Thanks

ILoveTomHardy · 10/10/2013 18:04

Sounds pretty straight forward if both parties are in agreement to a rectification of the titles. I would phone your solicitor and say if they can't explain what has caused the delay to your satisfaction you will complain to the SRA.

Mightbemiddleaged · 10/10/2013 18:05

Hi Free

Thanks for your kind words, I appreciate them today.

Both myself and DP are professionals and I am not ashamed of saying we pride ourselves on going the extra mile for the people we are paid to help.

If either of us sat for four months on anything we would be sacked, simple as that. Sad

OP posts:
TiredFeet · 10/10/2013 18:06

Gutted for you. Its hard to know from what you've said if they've definitely been rubbish but it doesn't sound good that it has taken so long. You can complain using their complaints procedure and then also there is the Law Society, but I realise that won't get you the house back.

YouAreMyFavouriteWasteOfTime · 10/10/2013 18:19

it's just that neither their or our solicitor have really done anything to actually get the issue resolved legally.

do you have any idea why that might be? surely they want to do the work and get paid?
what is the last thing they told you?

Mightbemiddleaged · 10/10/2013 18:23

You are, our neighbours solicitor were told the payment was being held on account 3.5 months ago. Despite this he did nothing and then when he was cased twice further down the line he queried the payment x2. He then st on it all for six full weeks lifting not a finger. Now it has apparently gone to neighbours mortgage lender ( that a month ago) but he is simply not responding to requests for updates!!

OP posts:
LessMissAbs · 10/10/2013 18:23

I'm not a conveyance, but title problems can sometimes be unresolvable. Was a mortgage required on the property? Were you asked about taking an insurance policy out against the disputed boundary? I believe you would have had to re-register both your and your neighbour's properties with the Land Register, and obtain your mortgage lender's consent.

However, if your solicitor simply refused to respond to calls and letters, then this is a ground for complaint, firstly to the Managing Partner of the firm involved, and if no resolution, to the Legal Ombudsman.

LessMissAbs · 10/10/2013 18:24

convenyancer I'm clearly not much of a typist either!

ithaka · 10/10/2013 18:31

OP - I feel your pain. Solicitors just do not seem the have the same standards as other fee charging professionals.

My lovely dad died over 6 months ago. Straightforward, current will. No issues, you would think. Big mistake, he made his local firm of solicitors his executors, so it is still not resolved. My sister phoned the other day to find out what was taking so long (she is broke and really needs her inheritance before the winter). Solicitor sounds surprised - 'oh, it is straightforward and all done. It just needs half an hour of my time and I am far too busy at the moment to do it'. What other profession can get away with that?

Legal bods - is there any point us complaining? Who would we complain too?

Alisvolatpropiis · 10/10/2013 18:39

ithaka

The SRA wokld be a good bet for you, as it's a service level issue rather than negligence. The firm should also have a compliantly procedure in place. There's also the option of seeking advice from the Legal Ombudsman (an impartial body not a person)

MrsHoratioNelson · 10/10/2013 18:44

ithaka I really object to your comment. Some solicitors are crap, just like there are crap accountants, doctors and checkout assistants.

To the point in hand, if it is the OP's solicitor who is holding things up, complain to the managing partner or whoever deals with complaints. This person will be identified in the client care letter sent to you at the outset of the matter.

If it is the neighbour a solicitor there's not much the OP can do except ask the neighbour to chase or ask her solicitor to chase.

It's possible that the hold up is not actually either solicitor's fault - for example the Land Registry might be delaying matters, but in those circumstances the solicitors should be chasing and keeping you updated.

If it is the solicitor's fault and OP is not satisfied with outcome of complaint to managing partner, contact the solicitors' regulation authority.

ithaka · 10/10/2013 18:44

Thank - I have just googled SRA & it looks like it is just for England & Wales - is there a Scottish equivalent?

YouAreMyFavouriteWasteOfTime · 10/10/2013 18:49

ithaka could you write to the solicitor and say if they are unable to progress matter you will seek an alternative law firm.

ithaka · 10/10/2013 18:55

I am afraid they will still charge a fortune, though, claiming they have already done stuff. Plus, as my dad put them as his executors, can I even do that? It so annoying, my dear old dad wanted to make everything as easy as possible for me & my sis, he wanted to look after us. These sharks are feeding off his estate when we are all really vulnerable - they seem to have no sense of a duty of care.

Alisvolatpropiis · 10/10/2013 18:55

ithaka

I think it's the Law Society of Scotland but not 100% sorry

LessMissAbs · 10/10/2013 18:59

Its the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission. But you will be expected to have put your complaint to the firm's managing partner first. Is there any more detail you can give about whether you or the neighbour required the consent of your lenders to re-register the changed boundaries of your properties with the Land Register? Was it suggested that you take out an insurance policy and create a good, new title for the new boundary in the sale?

www.lawscot.org.uk/forthepublic/what-the-society-can-do-for-you/making-a-complaint

The thing is, I suspect a lot of solicitors wouldn't want to get involved in conveyancing for a property with a boundary dispute. It can be a minefield, and take years to sort out, even with all parties in agreement. The better thing to do would have been to sort out the title of your property before putting it on the market/selling it.

YouAreMyFavouriteWasteOfTime · 10/10/2013 18:59

ithaka it was more of a threat than something you want to action....

I don't know the effect of one of them being named as an executor - I am a client of lawyers not a lawyer.

do you know what the costs are at the moment? did they estimate the costs for you at the start?

GiveItYourBestShot · 10/10/2013 20:59

I don't get it either. The people I was buying my house from actually moved out because they were worried about losing their new house. My solicitor didn't even know. He just dragged and dragged his feet. I'd been paying for storage while "my" house was empty. I'm sorry you've lost your dream house.

Glittertwins · 10/10/2013 21:01

This is depressing seeing that some attitudes have not improved in 10 years. We had similar problems with our solicitor wrt additional searches being needed. He didn't bother putting the request in, I ended up chasing and chasing this and the company doing the work turned it around bloody quickly. The vendors kept threatening to pull out but the estate agents persuaded them not to go back to square one as they knew we had sold.

The grubby little shite didn't give a monkeys when I asked him for updates nor when I said we could lose the property if these searches weren't done.

I never did get round to putting in a complaint about him as things were also going highly pear-shaped at work at the time. If we ever move again, I will use a local independent, not go down the chain we got talked into using.

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Chunderella · 10/10/2013 21:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 10/10/2013 21:27

Chunderella that is harsh. There are enough people who experience these problems to make it pretty acceptable to say that the legal profession doesn't always look after small clients very well. The bottom line is that many firms don't care enough, and provided they can bill enough time they couldn't care less.

We've experienced awful problems with conveyancing (with two separate firms) and with probate. I don't know a single person who has moved house who hasn't got some gripe with their solicitor because they have failed to request information in a timely manner, or they have sat on funds when they should have released them or some other issue. It is disgraceful.

Twilightsparklesmama · 10/10/2013 21:29

I'm sorry you have a bad experience but YABVVVVVU and rude to generalise a profession based on a bad experience.

What you perceived as a simple problem is in fact likely to have been fairly complex to resolve. Your neighbours property was in mortgage, the lenders consent to transfer part of the Property to you was required. This would have taken time to obtain. The land registry take much longer to deal with a transfer of part then a transfer of a whole title. I have known the land registry to take over 6 weeks to register something like this. You expected this to take a month to resolve I think this was mid guided. There is of course no excuse for your solicitor to not have kept you up to speed but their lack of communication doesn't mean lack of work.

The constant demand for cheap legal work and changes to who can carry out regulated work has pushed the legal profession to breaking point.

The poster who mentioned their Fathers probate, in England the Law society have practice guides to solicitors dealing with appointment of solicitors as executors. The solicitor has an obligation to keep the beneficiary informed as to progress and costs. They must also consider whether it is appropriate to take the appointment having regard to the complexity of the estate. I have arranged deeds of renunciation in estates where my firm has been appointed.

Having said that 6 months is not an excessive time to administer an estate. The year after death is referred to the executors year as this is thought to be a reasonable time to administer. There are time frames to consider, I would never pay out inheritance until at least 6 months after the grant due to the risk of claims against the estate.

I note you are in Scotland, but I suspect the position may be similar.

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