Their Solicitor f***** up

[MrsGRamsay]

Long story short. We're selling our flat.

Accepted first offer over three months ago and provided everything requested by buyer's Solicitor. For some reason, in these times, everything takes ages however, once Buyer was eventually able to book, Survey and valuation sailed through and we were meant to exchange and complete this coming Friday. Last Friday, Buyer's Solicitor realises they should have raised a point in the lease to mortgage provider and everything gone tits up till provider happy to continue to endorse mortgage terms. Buyer will be homeless next week and we've lost money (Hair, aged considerably) a lot of wasted time, and potentially our next house. We don't want to re-market and am sticking with potential buyer for the moment because not their fault.

My question is, does any MNers have any advice to get some compensation from their Solicitor's for the fuck up?

There is no question of lack of transparency on our part, they've had all documentation requested for over three months and have repeatedly assured everything required from us had been received - we have email trail with our Solicitor plus any other evidence one could think of.

It literally is a case of lazy, shoddy conveyancing practice; I assume senior partner reviewed paperwork and pointed out to junior Solicitor "you ticked no there but isn't it yes?"

So fucked off.

P.s asked both Solicitors about when exchange date was and they both came back happy with that practice - I've never heard of exchange and completion being on same date.

[MrsGRamsay]

Thanks you @Keepthingsinteresting for your advice.

Yes, we all make mistakes but for a bog standard conveyancing process - I'm a bit bit pissed off.

My husband took it upon himself to weekly check in all in order.

I've said above I don't expect to receive any compensation for their Solicitor's mistake however, I do hope Buyer does gets an apology in the form of some compensation and I will look into submitting a formal complaint.

[Mummyoflittledragon]

As has been pointed out to you, you have no recourse. As for the buyers, the solicitor will just argue they shouldn’t have ended their lease until exchange.

[FlapsInTheWind]

We had a similar situation over a house we let and we ended up almost seven thousand pounds out of pocket due to a solicotors fuck up.

I wrote a very detailed letter and asked for compensation. They asked for further evidence of emails etc and I provided this. I included the cost of printing the emails and the stamp to the 'invoice' so they knew I was serious. They paid me. They called it an ex gracia payment. They could call it Lilian for all I cared!

I would write to them in the first instance.

[Alez]

Their solicitor has been negligent by the sound of it. Whether you can claim anything depends on whether they owe you a duty of care and whether you have suffered any loss/damage. The buyers most definitely have so probably could claim compensation for having to pay for accomodation. I don't think you have though by the sounds of it?

[Quartz2208]

What are the terms of the leasehold (as you are selling a flat) a straight forward long lease shouldn’t affect mortgage lending. Is their something on the lease that could cause everything to go

Otherwise surely this could be back on track fairly quickly

[MrsGRamsay]

@FlapsInTheWind heh heh! Thank you for positive response as opposed... to some previous, covering collective industry arses.

As said many times before, my main issue is how prospective Buyer has basically been bu by Solicitor's incompetence; let alone cash we've lost.

I hope they get a "Lillian" too!

[Alez]

And just to add I'm not sure they'd owe you a duty of care either.

[MoonJelly]

I don't understand how it jeopardises your potential purchase? You say you were going to put stuff in storage and move into a tiny flat from which it sounds like that was a temporary arrangement till your new purchase goes through. Doesn't this just mean you spend less or no time in the tiny flat?

[Jimdandy]

Hello. Commercial Property Solicitor here!

To be honest you and/or your buyers are unlikely to get anywhere with a complaint other than an apology.

This is not your issue/fault at all but Conveyancing is historically Drastically undercharged compared to many other areas of law where the hourly rate is say £250.00 plus Vat. An average transaction takes around 40 hours, in fact our res con team don’t even time record anymore as we do most of it fixed fee.

The above paragraph is to highlight many res con teams do not use solicitors other people with any legal experience at all. (Please note ours does! You have to be a licensed conveyancer or on your way to becoming one!) or ours at least have a law degree.) they will be called things that have no legal standing like “Conveyaner” or “Legal Assistant” or “Paralegal”

This is often highlighted when we sell plots for small scale developers, as it’s a residential sale on the other side so we’re dealing with a res con team. There’s several local Conveyancing factories that when you open a memo and see them your heart just sinks. You know it’s going to take months (despite constant chasing), you won’t get to speak to anyone, when you phone it just gets cut off, their enquiries will be a load of nonsense that they don’t need to raise if they had just read the legal pack (they do it as a delaying tactic).

So it sounds like the person on the case initially missed it, then when it’s gone to the senior (probably more qualified person) they’ve spotted it. Or someone has just genuinely made a
Mistake, like we all do occasionally and forgotten to report something to their lender, it’s
Much better it has flagged now then on the day of completion when the funds don’t come in.

I understand your frustration and it doesn’t look good on their firm that it was left until minute, but unless they guarantee a time to turn a transaction round (which practically no where will do as too many factors outside of our control) then it just comes under poor service. They haven’t been negligent as it was flagged up.

And to echo previous poster exchange and completion on the same day is nothing to be suspicious about. Perfectly ordinary.

My above post is just to highlight the realities of Conveyancing!!

[RB68]

this is one of the risks of exch and compl being same day. Its just tough and one of those things. I don't think you will get any jot with the complaint as stuff like this crops up every day in the world of solicitors.

[Jimdandy]

@BluntAndToThePoint80 sorry hadn’t seen your post or wouldn’t have bothered posting!

This is the problem and what res con find so frustrating. The estate agent (who we often have to pay out of the proceeds) doesn’t nothing but ring and annoy us and occupy time “chasing” despite explaining were waiting to hear from the insurance company etc often gets paid over double what we do, despite often being unqualified, carrying no where the amount of risk that the firm does, yes res con demands (due to the market) a fraction of the price!

In reality if people were paying properly for a res con sol it should cost £5-10k!!!

[spinningaround72]

@MrsGRamsay

Thanks you *@Keepthingsinteresting* for your advice.

Yes, we all make mistakes but for a bog standard conveyancing process - I'm a bit bit pissed off.

My husband took it upon himself to weekly check in all in order.

I've said above I don't expect to receive any compensation for their Solicitor's mistake however, I do hope Buyer does gets an apology in the form of some compensation and I will look into submitting a formal complaint.

I dont think your buyer will get much in all honesty. We were told my our solicitor not to hand our notice in on our flat until after exchange so we didn't end up in their position. Until exchange nothing is guaranteed

[BluntAndToThePoint80]

No problem @Jimdandy - also a comm prop solicitor. I felt a kindred spirit when I read the comments on estate agents.

[LittleBearPad]

Never assume exchange will be the planned day - something can always go wrong and it be delayed.

For the same reason never agree to exchange and complete on the same day. It increases your risk. 2 weeks is far more common.

[Wife2b]

Breathe OP. You’ve not lost your buyer and your house. If the only thing holding up the sale is waiting for the bank to process a mortgage application then it’s unlikely your seller will pull out (much like you). It’s more hassle to put the house back on the market as you have no idea how long it would take for another buyer to come along and then most likely have their mortgage application to be processed. It’s rubbish but really you shouldn’t of done booked anything until your contracts had been exchanged - that’s the difficulty with same day exchange as there is no notice to get companies eg moving vans to etc arranged. Until the point of exchange, it can still go wrong at any point. We have recently moved house and I too was confused why we were exchanging and completing on the same day. Apparently due to Covid, it’s less risky as if you sign a contract to proceed and then develop symptoms then you might not be in a position to physically go through with the sale which would have significant legal implications.

[burnoutbabe]

No one should ever give notice on rentals etc until exchange. Buyers won't get any compensation for this (and they are probably paying a minimal legal bill anyway so nothing off that) as was picked up pre exchange.

[cologne4711]

If the issue with the buyer's mortgage been approved now, why can't you eg exchange and complete on Monday? Why are you losing your house and them having to get expensive temporary accommodation

[cologne4711]

Oh sorry just reread your OP and they haven't yet. Can't buyer hurry them up? Someone must be answering phones.

[Xenia]

Nothing has been done wrong because the system unlike in Scotland works on the basis there are no guaranteed time lines to exchange not guaranteed by the solicitor, the law or the various buyers and sellers (unless someone agreed that in a contract between two people which did not happen here). Lots of issues come up at the last minute and in a sense the solicitor here did their job found the issue. It is the same before going to court - even though lots of time before usually in the last few days new things emerge or are considered and that is not wrong even if it means last minute witness statements.

We could move to a Scottish system where I think you are bound once you offer but tha would be a big change.
One solution might be that you let your buyers move into your house when planned but as your tenant paying rent and you complete on your purchase using a bridging loan - I know this is risky in case the issue on the lease means your buyer's lender refuses to allow it at all.
(Also buyers and sellers lie sometimes so don't assume this issue has just come up - buyer might have been looking at other properties and all kinds of things although we can assume for this thread they are not lying I suppose).

Yes you can exchange and complete on the same day - used to be more common than now. Also you can I thought buy insurance against some issues for £100 rather than delve into them. May be the buyer could pay for that if his lender allows that. Do we know what the issue that has to be raised with the lender on the lease is?

[samuraimyths]

It all sounds very annoying but you hinted that the point the conveyancer missed was minor? So legally speaking it is not a big issue has just caused a delay? On that basis your buyer should be putting pressure on their conveyancer to prioritise this transaction to get to exchange as soon as possible. If you get the right people talking at conveyancer level (ie someone senior) and at the mortgage level (someone senior) then surely it can be sorted quickly. We have always avoided exchange and completion on the same day for this kind of thing. There is no flex if things go wrong last minute. Best to leave 2 weeks to book storage/movers etc

[CrappleUmble]

This is not your issue/fault at all but Conveyancing is historically Drastically undercharged compared to many other areas of law where the hourly rate is say £250.00 plus Vat. An average transaction takes around 40 hours, in fact our res con team don’t even time record anymore as we do most of it fixed fee.

The above paragraph is to highlight many res con teams do not use solicitors other people with any legal experience at all. (Please note ours does! You have to be a licensed conveyancer or on your way to becoming one!) or ours at least have a law degree.) they will be called things that have no legal standing like “Conveyaner” or “Legal Assistant” or “Paralegal”

Deffo. When we bought, I paid more for a very experienced chartered legal executive whom I know of professionally.

[Bluntness100]

Op, you’ve no recourse here as you had not exchanged. If anyone is due recourse it’s them. And it’s up to them to pursue that with their solicitor or not. This is the danger of exchanging and completing on the same day.

[H3LPm3]

Every solicitor should be part of the law society. They should have a standard complaints procedure. I would start off by asking the main partner for a meeting (obviously free!) To discuss your frustrations and see what can be done. It may be the solicitor was a trainee or less familiar with the process and made a mistake (not justifying it as obviously it has wasted your time and money).

If after the chat with the partner isn't to your satisfaction, you can raise your complaint to the next level. Again, this should be highlighted in their complaints procedure. I'm sure the next stage would be getting the Law Society involved.

All I'd say is this is likely to be a long winded process but I'd suggest as a first port, requesting through your solicitor that your buyer requests a more experienced solicitor carrying on with the conveyancing. As many posters have pointed out, if the buyer retracts their offer everything is lost so do tread carefully if you want the successful sale of your flat, you dont want to annoy anyone in the process.

Good luck

[H3LPm3]

Sorry I should also have stated that because the solicitor isn't acting on your behalf, the chances are they probably won't talk to you about the case as such. The likelihood is any compensation would actually go to your buyer as it is them in the contract with the firm, not yourself.

But as many have said, you've not exchanged or completed yet so it is a very slim chance you'll get anything. But if you do want to complain, their complaints procedure should highlight the process and likely to be found on their website if you don't want the drama of speaking to the a partner.

[VinylDetective]

@Comefromaway

It’s quite common for exchange and completion to be on the same date at the moment.

I exchanged and completed on the same day 30 years ago. It’s completely normal, if not usual. This situation is far worse for your poor buyers than it is for you.