Can we sue a solicitor for the wider impact of their negligence?

[Mummagumma]

DP bought the flat in which we live together with DS 9 years ago. He bought it with a share of the freehold ... or so he believed.

It appears that the solicitors who did the conveyancing when DP bought it 9 years ago made a big mistake - our flat was at some point 'extracted' from the freehold and they did not notice that. They are supposedly getting on with trying to locate the freeholder (they can't) and now it seems it'll have to go to a court thing so they can acquire the freehold and give it to us, but this will take up to 8 months. They have said they are not responsible for the error (well, they would, wouldn't they) but it's pretty cut and dried that they have been professionally negligent, and there is recourse we can take to reclaim actual costs if there are any.

The thing is though, it's not just the actual costs that this balls up has generated - it's the impact it's having on our lives. We had agreed a sale, but our buyer has, unsurprisingly given the circumstances, pulled out. Next week, we should have been moving a few hundred miles away to a little house, so we could start trying to conceive DC2, and put down roots for DS' childhood. Now, we find ourselves stuck in this one-bed flat in London, having lost our buyer in a difficult market, unable to even put the place up for sale for 6-8 months until the tenure has been sorted. We are so upset. I really can't have another baby in a little one-bed flat, and I just can't believe we might have to put off DC2 for a considerable length of time due to this stupid solicitor failing to do their job.

I hate these solicitors. Bloody hell. Can't believe this has happened.

[WishIwasCherryMenlove]

Bloody hell indeed, sorry to hear that.

I should say that I only have the haziest of knowledge of conveyancing. But does sound clear negligence. Technically you should be able to recover for losses that were reasonably foreseeable from their negligence (although arguments for what constitutes reasonable foreseeable are long and varied ...).

You could try and find out who the freeholder is yourself - you can do a land registry search yourself for your property online. Then just contact them yourselves to explain teh situation.

Also, the firm should have a complaints partner if you want to write a letter of complaint and I think the Lawsoc website will have details of how to complain.

Also, you've got a right to see their file of papers I think.

I would be ditching this firm, getting new solicitors who can sort out the problems with the flat and at the same time pursue a prof neg claim against the original firm.

Lastly, just a thought - can you rent out the flat and move to make life easier?

Good luck anyway.

[minibmw2010]

It definitely sounds like negligence to me !!

In the past I had a flat which was the bottom half if a house but I also owned the freehold for the whole building. When I sold the flat I instructed my solicitors to sell it as Leasehold, retaining the freehold (and the yearly maintenance for me). Fast forward 5 years, the people who bought from me go to sell and find they are now the registered freeholder due to my solicitors paperwork error.

I found a small firm of litigation lawyers who sued the original solicitors for me and I 'won' £17k which left me with about £12k after fees. Speak to some small firms, they'll tell you if you have a case worth pursuing, I think you do.

Good luck.