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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be livid someone has robbed 40 grand off my Nan and they are getting away with it !!!!!!!

27 replies

michymama · 24/04/2009 09:47

Will try and explain although am still shaking with anger:
My Nanna is 82 she came to live with my mum about 5 years ago. She lived about 2 hours away from mum and after a nasty incident with her son became very ill so mum brought her here to look after her. Nan is not a well woman and hasn't been for some time, she's had a few strokes and has recently been diagnosed with vascular dimentia. Mum put nans house on the market but after a long time and lots of being messed about she dropped the price dramatically.
Mum and stepdad we're friends with a couple who offered 70K for the house. They asked if they could pay 30K at sale but use the other 40K to do it up and pay it back after a year. Mum agreed but insisted they went to a solicitor and had it all done legally. Not long after said friends stopped answering mums calls and terminated friendship. Mum's solicitor told her not to worry they could not get away with not paying.
They should have paid money back 2 years ago and we still haven't seen a penny. Mums solicitors have been telling her not to worry, we can make him bankrupt, you will get you money etc etc
Yesterday we drove 2 hours to solicitor to be told by the Head Man that we should just walk away.
He said to make them bankrupt will cost in region of 5,000 and we are not guaranteed we will get it all back. Once he realised we were not going to let it go he suddenly remembered another way, putting a charge on the house which is cheaper and can pretty much guarantee the money. Its still about 3,000 which is something we just haven't got.
I rang the police and although the woman was gobsmacked there is nothing they can do as this is a civil matter.
So unless we can raise £3,000 these bastards are just going to walk away with 40k !!!!!!
Any advice on what to do (within legal limits as I know what I would REALLY like to do)???
Also I think the solicitors have behaved unprofessionally and have now landed mum with a £1500 bill.

OP posts:
chocolateismyonlyweakness · 24/04/2009 09:55

OMG, how awful ..... outrageous, just shows how some people will behave when it comes to money, completely without scruples.

I can only suggest try and get a second opinion from other solicitor, it's confusing to get mixed messages. Hopefully someone with legal expertise will be along with advice for you.

Nancy66 · 24/04/2009 09:57

Well, no help to you at all - but what a bloody stupid plan in the first place and your parents were idiots for agreeing to it.

Secondly on no account should your mother pay her solicitor's bill - they gave her terrible advice. I have no legal training at all and even I can see that the plan was incredibly dodgy.

I would contact the LCS (legal complaints service) about your original solicitors.

Original poster
michymama · 24/04/2009 10:03

Nancy66 - the were assured by the solicitors they could not get out of paying, they would never have agreed to it otherwise. When someone takes legal advice from legal experts you do trust they know what they are doing.
Looking back on it we can see they had no intention ever of paying it back but they were friends and my parents trusted them. You really can't trust anyone though can you ?

OP posts:
Molecule · 24/04/2009 10:03

I am not a solicitor but have had a little experience of charges and properties. When the house was sold, it should have been sold with a price of £70,000. £30,000 payable on completion and £40,000 payable in X years or when the property was sold, whichever was the sooner (with X being a stated number of years); a charge should have been put on the property at this stage to ensure that the buyer could not sell the property and not pay.

Now I am not a lawyer, but I think your Gran's solicitors have been negligent in not doing this. I suggest you talk to the Law Society or another solicitor and see what they say. At the very least your solicitors should be drawing up the charge for free.

Original poster
michymama · 24/04/2009 10:07

In my anger forgot to add. A charge was put on the house but they never made any mortgage payments and the house was repossed. It was sold at auction for 40k in February so they also owe the mortgage company 30k.

OP posts:
KingCanuteIAm · 24/04/2009 10:14

So the charge was not paid before the mortgage then? I thught it had to be paid first by law?

You need (IMO) to get to another solicitor for advice on how to proceed. I can't see that you can apply a charge to a property that has already been sold IYSWIM?

Juxal · 24/04/2009 10:14

Make a complaint to the Law Society. You might be able to recoup the lot from the rubbish solicitors who advised you in the first place. They are utterly appalling.

Nekabu · 24/04/2009 10:17

"Once he realised we were not going to let it go he suddenly remembered another way, putting a charge on the house which is cheaper and can pretty much guarantee the money. Its still about 3,000 which is something we just haven't got."

You shouldn't have to. Their cock up, they can just sort it out for free. They should be grateful you're not sueing them for interest on the 40K for the X number of years you should have had it and haven't.

You need some kind of legal advice so that you can find out how to yank on your mum's solicitor's choke chain. I don't know who the legal ombudsman is but citizens advice might. If they realise you're not going to let it drop, nor are you going to be paying them to do the work needed to correct their original error then they may start to be more obliging.

Nancy66 · 24/04/2009 10:18

The Law Society is for solicitors - the Legal Complaints Service is for those making a complaint against a solicitor, which is the body that you need.

Molecule · 24/04/2009 10:19

It now gets a bit more complicated....

If the £40,000 balance has not been payed back then I'm pretty sure the original charge should stand, I'm also sure that anyone with a charge on a property has to be in agreement to it being sold, so did your parents/Gran agree to it going to auction? Is the charge a 1st or 2nd charge?

I do not understand how you can put a new charge on a property that has been sold as I cannot see a purchaser agreeing to it. You need to talk to the solicitors about what has happened to the initial charge, and take it from there.

I can see this ending up as costing a fortune in legal fees and getting b*** all back.

Original poster
michymama · 24/04/2009 10:42

the charge he was talking about yesterday is a charge on they actual house they are living in now. They bought my nans house as a renovation project.
We are going to get advice from CAB and Law Society but at the moment mum is just too upset to do anything.
Thanks for all your advice ladies x

OP posts:
wasabipeas · 24/04/2009 10:43

Why on EARTH didn't the solicitors put a charge on the house at the time of the sale?
I'm not a solicitor but it seems like the most obvious thing to have done
Complain, complain, complain to the Law Society.

edam · 24/04/2009 10:51

michy, as Nancy says, you need the Legal Complaints Service, not the Law Society.

This is an outrageous tale - what on EARTH were your Nan's solicitors thinking?

Molecule · 24/04/2009 11:15

Michy, what has happened to the initial charge put on the house when your gran/parents sold it? This is going to be important with regard to getting advice either here or from the Legal Complaints service or CAB.

I think it would be worth posting this under Legal/money matters.

Swedes · 24/04/2009 11:36

I'm not sure why the conveyancing solicitor didn't place a charge over the property when it was conveyed to its new owners. To be lifted once the debt had been satisfied. It all sounds highly irregular.

I think a v good property lawyer's second opinion would be money well spent.

Swedes · 24/04/2009 11:39

Arf. I see they did place a charge.

It would all depend then on whether yours was the first or second charge. It sounds to me as though yours was the second charge.

Original poster
michymama · 24/04/2009 13:11

it was the second charge mum had, building society were first.
even the police were outraged but unable to do anything

OP posts:
Idranktheeasterspirits · 24/04/2009 13:19

I would haunt them. I would turn up on their doorstep, at their local supermarket, at their local pub, i would tell all of their mutual friends what has happened.
Basically i would (legally) make their life unbearable.

With regards to the 3k charges, you can negotiate to pay the solicitor monthly but recover the charges from the other party if you see what i mean.
So in other words you don't need 3k up front and you would eventually get the charges back.

Original poster
michymama · 24/04/2009 13:37

They actually live round the corner from my step dads family and so often get insults hurled at them. We live the other side of town to them so have never bumped into them, I don't know if I could stop myself from having a go at her. My friend owns a caravan on the same park as they had one so she has spread the word.
I thought about taking out an advert in the local papers !!!!
The solicitor said he wants his 1500 before he goes ahead with anything else. Not that he will be, after all the advice from here will be speaking to the law society and another lawyer.

OP posts:
WhiteVanWoman91 · 17/11/2021 19:20

I would 100% torch their fucking caravan!

User4272946730203 · 17/11/2021 19:26

What an insanely stupid thing to do in the first place.

Have you considered suing your solicitors for advising you that this was an acceptable idea?!

Francescaisstressed · 17/11/2021 19:29

@michymama

Nancy66 - the were assured by the solicitors they could not get out of paying, they would never have agreed to it otherwise. When someone takes legal advice from legal experts you do trust they know what they are doing. Looking back on it we can see they had no intention ever of paying it back but they were friends and my parents trusted them. You really can't trust anyone though can you ?
If you were really told that then you have a claim against the solicitors potentially. I. Would advise getting a second opinion.
MynameisJune · 17/11/2021 19:29

This thread is 12 years old

doodlejump1980 · 17/11/2021 19:30

This thread is 12 years old….

Gingernaut · 17/11/2021 19:38

Your mother is extremely gullible to be taken in by the offer in the first place and no solicitor should have agreed.

I would haunt them to the end of my days, tbh.

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