We might lose our dream house?

[Maria8092]

I dont know what to say about this, it's knocked us for six... about three months ago, hubby & me moved into our dream home, everything about it is pretty perfect, we've redecorated and put our own stamp on the place, really made it our own... then just over a week ago we were told by our solicitors that there's a problem with our contract of sale... apparently part of it is missing, the sellers didn't sign and return part of it and so it brings into question whether the sale was even valid... we're just waiting now to hear back what the next steps are... you can imagine how this has made us feel ,it has cast a real cloud over Xmas... we're both angry that this could ever have been missed but more than that, we're so upset at the prospect of losing our dream home, especially after all the time and work we've put into it... we're not sure what to do next or where this will leave us if the contract isn't valid, but we're thinking about getting independent legal advice?

I would definitely be getting independent advice - I work in property and things like this happen from time to time.

I don't think it means you would lose your home though, you paid for it but I guess it depends which bit is missing.

When we came to sell our last house it turned out when we bought it 2 years earlier the solicitor didn't do the post completion work so never registered it with land registry so technically it wasn't ours. All was fine though, I'd imagine your lender will be more concerned!

Have you got someone you can speak to for legal advice?

Yea, hubby has been in touch with another solicitor who has agreed to advise us... shocking that this actually happens from time to time... all we have been told at the moment is that a page from the contract of sale is missing which needed to be signed by the seller... we don't know which exactly but it didnt sound good from what the solicitor said... we haven't spoken to our lender yet, dreading what they will say!

I wouldn't worry about this at all, it's an administrative error that is easily corrected between the sols. Should the other party try to claim ownership (highly unlikely), a court would look at the intentions of both parties, which clearly was for them to sell the property to you.

Do not contact your lender until such point that your sol states the property ownership is in dispute.

Presumably the vendor has a great deal of your money in return for the house?

Did your solicitor return the Land Registry in your name? You can check the land registry.

Why do you think you could lose your home over this?

I think it's a bit soon to be taking advice from a different solicitor who has no first-hand knowledge of your house purchase or the conveyancing that occurred.
Why incur further costs at this early stage?
He's unlikely to be able to advise you as he's not involved.

Surely your own solicitor from the house purchase will want to get the mistake rectified?
Hopefully you will be soon reassured.