Exchanged but completion fell through - absolute nightmare!

[anunseemlylovefordustin]

I don't know whether I'm looking for advice or just to vent! The sale of our old house completed in early September and I moved into rented accommodation while I looked for somewhere else to buy.

Found somewhere, exchanged contracts on 22nd October, with a completion date of 29th.

The 29th rolls around, I have the whole place packed up, movers are booked to bring all my stuff out of storage, mortgage funds are in and waiting at my Solicitors. At about 3pm I get the call that the 'OS20' search has shown up a problem, in that there is a strip of the garden that isn't actually owned by the seller!

Cue an absolute nightmare of having to return mortgage funds, unpack everything, lose all of my moving costs etc.

The seller is still trying to sort out the title with the landowner, who has apparently agreed to sign it over for his legal costs (it's just a little strip and is enclosed by the fence) and it looks as if it'll take another few weeks. Although I'm rapidly losing the will to live here in my tiny accommodation with a toddler, two cats and two dogs, with all my stuff in storage for coming up for the third month, I don't seem to have any choice but to wait (unless anyone has any ideas that I haven't thought of?)

Has anyone else been in this situation? Any ideas or advice or similar experiences?

[wowfudge]

I'd be looking to recover my costs for the aborted move, including additional storage. Why on earth did exchange go ahead if everything wasn't in order? I think your solicitor or conveyancer is potentially at fault here.

[goodwinter]

Sorry to hear that, it sounds awful! No advice I'm afraid but I'm astonished that you managed to exchange without all the searches having been done. Did your solicitor not point that out at the time?

[Flatasmytitties]

How the actual hell has it got to 3pm completion day before that was discovered!?!?

I'm sure you are exhausted but I'd be furious. Presumably the seller knew.. but really it's the solicitors at fault surely? They must be liable the incurred costs of this monumental fuck up?

Poor you!

[anunseemlylovefordustin]

Apparently an OS20 search can only be done after exchange. I just don't understand how it didn't show up on all the searches before. I'm trying to muster up the emotional energy to tackle my solicitor about it, to see who's at fault in terms of it only showing up at the last minute.

I cried in paperchase today! I thought ok, let’s be POSITIVE and do something NICE, I’ll go and get my annual hideous Christmas ornaments from paperchase. Which I did! But then stood in the queue thinking despairingly what if I’m still in this tiny place at Christmas, and what on Earth am I going to do for Christmas anyway, then by the time I got to the till I was silently leaking from the eyes....so that went well 

Im just kind of hunkered down in survival mode at the moment, getting through each day.

[anunseemlylovefordustin]

Oh, and I do keep having to fight off attacks of THE RAGE about it all 

[MenstruatorExtraordinaire]

What is an OS 20 search? There are no searches that are done after exchange of contracts that would show this up. Your solicitor has made an error and should be compensating you for this.

[OhLemons]

I don't think you've been told the truth. This should not have been discovered post exchange.

[Spamfrittersforeveryone]

We have had OS issues with rogue land strips before. They were discovered and resolved well before exchange- it doesn’t feel like you’ve been given all the info here.

[crockofcrackers]

Are you sure it's called an OS20 and not an OS1 (used where the whole of a registered title is being transferred) or an OS2 (where part of a registered title is being transferred, and you send a plan off showing the area you want to be searched, such as a new build being transferred out of a big estate)?

Either way, these are only done to check if any changes have been made to the registers of title between the point the initial contract paperwork was provided to the buyer's solicitor and the point that the search was done, it wouldn't pop up with "the seller doesn't own this bit of land", so I'm not sure what has happened here?

You definitely need to query exactly what has happened with your solicitor as they really should not have exchanged without examining the title to the property. Is the extra strip of land on a separate title number to the rest of the property, and that's why it's maybe been missed? Were you shown a plan of the boundaries before exchange and asked to confirm they were accurate?

Also, if it is an OS1 or OS2, they can be done before exchange but many firms do them afterwards (I'm a solicitor and always do mine before).

[PragmaticWench]

I'm fairly sure the only search after exchange would be to check for charges against the property? This should have been done prior to exchange.

[MarshaBradyo]

I think someone is covering their tracks. Look into it more to recover costs.

[Fortheloveofscience]

Fingers crosses a conveyancer comes onto the thread soon, I find it v difficult to believe this isn’t a complete fuckup by your solicitor that they should be paying for...

[crockofcrackers]

@Fortheloveofscience I'm a Conveyancing solicitor (posted above) - and it definitely sounds suspicious to me!

[PrincessScarlett]

I worked in property law for over 20 years and no searches are done after exchange. All searches are done before exchange. Sounds to me like your solicitor as f*cked up and is trying to cover it up.

In any event, as you have exchanged you are legally bound to complete so at the very least you should be compensated for any monies lost and any monies you have to pay out.

[anunseemlylovefordustin]

Right! That's it, I'm back to my Solicitors then 

It was an OS2 search (sorry, I was misremembering it) and when I asked them how on Earth it hadn't shown up before, they just said that these kinds of searches had to be done after exchange which is why it had showed up so late. So I'm going to be finding out from them 1. why the search wasn't run before exchange and 2. why it was even run in the first place!

Arrrrgh  Thank you for comments, I KNEW it wasn't right but was too exhausted to do anything but bunker down and go into survival mode. You've put fire in my belly!

[DisrespectfulAdultFemale]

No advice but you do have my sympathy. I hope the situation is soon resolved.

[PrincessScarlett]

An OS2 search is when you are purchasing only part of a registered title as opposed to an OS1 when you are purchasing the whole registered title for a piece of land. Presumably the OS2 has now been submitted for the strip of land that is not in the property's registered title. Both OS1 and OS2 applications are submitted after exchange BUT your solicitor really should have known about this issue from the off by doing an index map search before exchange. The OS searches are to register your priority over land not discover who owns what land/titles.

You are entitled to compensation. If the strip of land is a different title number surely you can complete on your property in the meantime and person who owns strip of land can transfer to you direct rather than getting a third person involved. Your solicitor needs to sort this immediately. It sounds like your solicitor doesn't know what they are doing.

[Fortheloveofscience]

crockofcrackers apologies, I have a horrible habit of not reading the last line of posts .

[crockofcrackers]

@PrincessScarlett many firms do OS1/2s after exchange but they don't have to be done then, as the OP has been told. I always do mine before exchange, everyone else in my firm does too.

Agree with everything else you've said though and I can only assume OP's solicitor is trying to cover up their error.

[PrincessScarlett]

Crockofcrackers, my firm do them before exchange as well but just trying to reassure OP that they can be done after. Although from what OP says her solicitor doesn't know what they are doing if they hadn't even done an index map search!

[anunseemlylovefordustin]

Grrrrrrr! I've managed to find out from them that they didn't even submit the request to land registry until two working days after exchange (when there was only a week between the planned exchange and completion dates)! So if they had even done it on the day, we would have known about the problem two days BEFORE completion, and I wouldn't have even bothered packing!

I don't know what avenues I have to actually do anything about this except make a formal complaint (I can't imagine me winning any battle against a firm of Solicitors!) but I will definitely do at least that.

[Pythonesque]

Agree with above comments, in this sort of situation you should be entitled to compensation that at least covers your costs. I hope it gets sorted soon.

[crockofcrackers]

You need to go through the firm's internal complaints procedure and if you're not satisfied after that, go through the Legal Ombudsman.

[KatnissMellark]

Do you have any legal cover through house insurance etc? I am using this to try to recover costs after our completion fell through in the summer. It was awful, so stressful and horrible. If it reassures you, we are in our new house now and everything turned out ok, still fighting for contacting but otherwise it's now just a blip. In a few years I'm sure we'll laugh about it

[pilates]

Yes I would be looking to your Solicitor for compensation, all searches should be done before exchange. What was the timescale from finding the property and exchanging? If I’m reading this correctly it would be a month which is extremely quick 😲At the beginning of the transaction your Solicitors should have provided you with details of their complaints procedure. If not, request a copy now.