Solicitors - language used?

[QuickLegalquestion]

Have received a solicitor letter from new neighbours. Trying not to identify but regarding an extension built 25 years ago but new roof makes it look very newish and not built by us. The surprising thing that although the letter is aggressive, the aggression is from the solicitor. Instead of “our clients” it refers to “I” and sometimes “we” followed by calling us aggressive, negligent, ridiculous and a few more in our actions of building the extension. Whilst I would not be surprised by an aggressive stance by his clients can a solicitor make these comments directly from himself.

Is it from a real solicitors firm? Or do you think your new neighbours have sent a letter purporting to be from a solicitor when in face they’ve written the letter themselves?

No it’s real, have checked the solicitors name, he is a junior solicitors at local firm and they want the reply sent to that address.

Letters such as that are out of order. Firstly they should always be stating their client's position, not their own, and secondly they should moderate their language.

If I were you I'd make a complaint to the firm.

Yes I agree you should complain - it should not written with ‘I’ and ‘we’ in an aggressive tone.

Some solicitors are like that - either because their client is demanding that sort of tone (and they are too weak not to tell them it doesn’t help) or they are like it themselves. It certainly doesn’t help achieve anything and if anything makes matters worse. They probably think they sound terribly important and impressive.

I would be inclined to say something along the lines of you were neither cowed nor impressed by the aggressive wording of their letter which was unnecessary.

If you didn’t build the extension and that is the whole issue try having a look back on old google earth pics hopefully there will be a pic of it in place from before you had the property. Or old property particulars from when you bought it maybe?

Thank you all, the extension I still have the house buying pack when we purchased with all the documents, so not overly concerned. It was just strange and with using “I” felt clunky reading and very inappropriate.

Perhaps the junior solicitor has cut & pasted from his client's correspondence?

Sounds like it's based on text supplied by the client and it hasn't been checked by the solicitors before sending. They are just being paid to send letters and that's clearly all they care about.

I think you are right, a bit risky with poor proof reading. Leaves himself open!

Complain to the senior partner.

I'm a legal secretary, and whilst it's not inconceivable that a solicitor would write such an unprofessional letter, it does sound rather odd in its tone. I think the PP's theory about somebody cutting and pasting text drafted by your neighbour, then not bothering to edit it appropriately, seems likely. Perhaps your neighbour thought that a solicitor's letter would carry some weight and intimidate you, but they didn't want to formally instruct a solicitor, or pay any fees, so they asked a favour from someone who works there. Even if they have formally instructed the firm, it doesn't sound like the solicitor involved is very bright or thorough, so just be glad they aren't acting for you!

Re the extension, hopefully when you bought the property you instructed a decent solicitor and they carried out the normal enquiries on your behalf. Those enquiries should have revealed whether the extension was built in accordance with planning permission, or under permitted development rules. If they obtained a copy of the PP you may be able to check through it to see whether the roof and other things were constructed/finished in the correct manner to comply with that, although hopefully your solicitor covered those aspects sufficiently at the time, and would have flagged up any potential liability issues if the previous owners did not comply with the PP/ planning regs. In your position I would do some reading and checking of the paperwork, and perhaps phone your solicitor to check anything that may be an issue, as some councils have been known to take action years after illegal extensions/alterations and demand that current owners carry out remedial works (although I don't know what the time limit is on that kind of issue). Maybe you have all this covered, but just throwing all that in, in case it's useful.

I would have thought that he or his secretary didn't correct it to 'my client' et.

Well, if it was built 25 years ago, and you have proof of that, unlikely to be any case. Well out of time.

Is there any chance that your extension encroaches on their property? Even so , the previous occupants clearly permitted that.

What exactly is their complaint?

Agree with Defenbaker

What is the letter specifically concerning - it seems very bizarre they would write about an extension that’s been there 25 years which their client failed to spot before now.

Are they actually threatening some legal action? If not, you have no reason to reply. Have the neighbours spoken to you, in good faith, about their concerns? If not, I would be inclined to either ignore the letter or reply that you are not prepared to discuss the matter any further. I suspect middle aged gammon trying to intimidate you.

The solicitor sounds an arse.

That’s a very inappropriate letter and reflects badly on the lawyer and the firm.

In your shoes I would reply saying the extension was built 25 years ago, just to avoid any further hassle. I’d also copy in the senior partner to your letter and state that you were surprised by the aggressive and accusatory tone of his letter, and that it reflects poorly on the firm. The senior partner will care about that as the reputation of the firm affects their ability to get clients! You’ll prob get an apology and an acknowledgment that they were in the wrong.

Defenbaker my understanding is that enforcement action cannot be taken beyond four years.

Oh, and I wouldn't bother responding to a letter like that.

It's not unknown for solicitors to write stupid letters. I once worked in a firm that outsourced typing and occasionally letters dictated by someone with a similar name to mine came back to me. The typists were quite good and used to query dictation that didn't seem to make sense, but they'd obviously given up with this person and simply typed what he dictated verbatim. Some of them were utter gibberish and/or ridiculously aggressive. I discovered that the solicitor in question was so slapdash that he simply printed them off, signed them and sent them out. Somehow the solicitor in question brought in reasonable fees so the firm took a long time to decide to get rid of him. I hate to think what the recipients of his letters thought.

Sorry I didn’t see new replies, I wrote back with planning application references number and complained about language and sent a copy to senior partner. The extension is fully on our property but even I am shocked planning allowed it as it is the length of the garden and is very large. We are corner plot so have a larger garden. They threatened legal action for it to be removed. They seemed to have gone quiet

Sounds like you have done the right thing.
I get clients sometimes sending me words they want me to use and occasionally they are quite well written but often I just cannot use what they want me to say as it's rude or says that I personally am saying something is true when in fact only my client will know if it is true.