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.
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Can we sue a solicitor for the wider impact of their negligence?
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Mummagumma · 13/12/2011 15:15
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