Conveyancing help needed!

[IAmFourEels]

Hi,

We are trying to purchase a house. The Land Registry has the name of the current owners as 'Samuel John Smith' and 'Laura Jane Smith'.

The contract and all other documents are under the names 'Sam John Smith' and 'Laura Jane Smith'. The husband's passport states he is 'Sam John Smith' - so their solicitors will not change the legal documentation to match the Land Registry record, as they have to use the name provided on the ID.

So it's a problem of someone called 'Sam' not being able to prove he is also 'Samuel'.

Our solicitor says we cannot proceed until everything matches, and the sellers should apply to the Land Registry to amend the title.

Their solicitor says this is not necessary, and we can submit a 'Statement of Truth' provided by the seller, stating Sam and Samuel are the same person, at the same time we apply to register our ownership.

Our solicitor says a Statement of Truth may not be sufficient and there is no guarantee that the Land Registry will agree and put the title in our names.

The solicitors are at loggerheads, neither willing to change their stance. Which solicitor is right? What can we do to ensure the sale doesn't fall through?

I've had this before and I'd definitely expect the seller's sols to sort this in case there any issues.

It’s less a Q of whose right and perhaps more about which will budge and do something about it. If your conveyancer won’t complete then the ball is firmly in the seller conveyancer’s court to resolve it.
In my experience most conveyancers, and indeed a buyer’s lender, would want this sorted before being willing to complete.
They can do that by applying to amend the register as appropriate and submitting supporting evidence to confirm correct legal name eg passport name page and confirm they act for the owners.