Was the solicitor wrong to do this?

[HootShoot]

I'll try and keep this as short as possible. My father was on the deeds of our old home as I bought it before DH and I met. At the time we had a legal agreement drawn up showing that he owned 0.01% of the property. We sold that house this year and moved into our new home. My dh and I own this new house and instructed the conveyancing solicitors to represent us in the sale and purchase.

The new house did not have a fitted kitchen but freestanding units. Prior to the completion I emailed our solicitors and asked them to check the units were included in the sale. I followed this up with a phone call and was told theg thought they were included but would double check. I didn't hear anymore so assumed it was sorted. When we moved in there was no kitchen. We were told there was no record of the solicitor following up on our email. We bought second hand units from eBay and hired a van to collect them. We had to buy new worktops as they didnt come with the units. Total cost to us of £350. We complained to the solicitors as we felt this was a unexpected cost we were incurring due to their negligence and was told to send them receipts. We didn't have receipts and although we had emails proving our purchase on ebay we didn't follow up on it because life got in the way, mainly the kitchen we had to fit!

Roll on a couple of months and they are saying we owe them £135 because they made another mistake with the paperwork. I told them I didn't want to pay this as we were already out of pocket and I would now put my complaint in writing. They have followed up this phone call with a letter saying the matters arent related. What has really annoyed me is they have sent a copy of this letter to my dad by email! Would that be a breach of confidentiality or data protection? Or are they justified in writing to him because he was the minority owner of our old house?

Any advice you could give me would be gratefully received.

Thanks

Anyone around who can help?

What was on the fixtures and fittings form? Did it say kitchen units to be included?
What is the £135 for?

It didn't say anything on the fixtures and fittings form which is why we wanted our solicitors to clarify if it was included. Turned out the units weren't included but our solicitors didn't check this out when we asked them to. The £135 was because they invoiced our buyers for items they didn't purchase then paid us the money when they settled all outstanding funds. We didnt realise this until they contacted us several months later.

if they acted on the sale of your old house, then your dad was their client as well as you, so although there is no need for them to be writing to him about your new house, it is not incorrect or a breach of data privacy.

My DH had this 6 months after selling a house.
He replied he was not in the habit of paying for other peoples incompetence and refused to pay!

As iheart said, because it relates to the sale of the house your dad was part owner in (the percentage of which is irrelevant) he is a seller as well and therefore involved in owing the $135.

Honestly, EVERYTHING should be kept in writing whenever possible. As they were the ones who did the final calculations, you could try suggesting that they take the money from their attorney's fees. It was their miscalculation, their error.

As for the matters not being related, they're not... but you could send them an invoice for the money they "owe" you for their incompetence or suggest they apply a "credit" to the invoice you sent them and only pay the difference between what they owe you.

Again, in writing. Registered mail (tracked so proof of delivery or whatever).