Aggressive Land Law solicitor sought

[Dinnerplatedahlia]

Does anyone know of a property lawyer who is red hot about covenants and stands no nonsense? We are being pulverised by our affluent neighbours’ solicitor and our solicitor is no match. She sadly dropped the ball during the conveyance process and it has only just come to light. She doesn’t want to go there but unfortunately we’ve got no choice. Any recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks

Two days and you’re going thermonuclear?! Two days in AUGUST?
you have unrealistic expectations. Do you want a correct answer or a fast one? Is it a problem with the neighbours or vendor lying, or with the solicitor? In the absence of any detail it sounds like you didn’t understand what the restrictions were and you’re retrospectively pissed off that you’re in breach

No we don’t (although we did and it’s finished). I just wanted recommendations for solicitors and thanks to all the above I have some great suggestions.

So you’ve had the property long enough to have paid off the mortgage? When did the issues come to light? Sounds like you may have limitation issues too.

I’ve got no intentions of going thermonuclear. We’re being very measured and gathering our evidence. There are no limitation issues, we had a tiny mortgage and paid it off with every spare pound, in ten months.

We have recently used a property litigation specialist who came up trumps for us. Our problem was a 'simple' one however of a CF neighbour thinking he could grab some of our land and access. We are in the SW. The costs were around £300 per hour plus VAT.
I think that might be the kind of specialist you want. Solicitors can also send threatening firm letters to other solicitors. It sounds like your conveyancing solicitor might be throroughly and usefully spooked by such an approach.

Also, the law moves slowly. Especially in August! It can take weeks to get the simplest of answers. I find persistent but gentle prodding gets there. But yes, weeks, not days in most cases!

@Dinnerplatedahlia I've just looked at the recommendation made by @MinnieMountain and seen this
Furthermore, Jonathan is a “ferocious” advocate and has the confidence, experience and ability to conduct his own trials personally at court. This means that clients do not have to instruct a separate Barrister to go into court on their behalf.
Thought I'd flag it up as this is a huge advantage.
Actually someone like this might be ideal as a first port of call for advice (some firms offer an initial consultation/30 mins free) as he's clearly keen and has relevant experience in a rural setting.

Why is it life threatening?

Totally agree

Thankfully not atm. But due to its nature it could be if there is deterioration in the future. We would not have considered buying this property had we known as we know we would not have the funds to do the necessary work.

@Thisoldheartofmine he's also realistic. He advised a property client of mine that it wasn’t worth the expense of going after her neighbour for a small boundary dispute.

I think there’s a time limit on suing your conveyancer. Are you many years in the property?

If the solicitor missed it their insurance should pay.

So for example, is it something like a retaining wall near a public walk way type situation, with dispute over ownership of wall and knowledge of state of repair?

You may be able to find similar cases on here

https://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=24

@Dinnerplatedahlia save your energy regarding contacting the SRA for now.

My experience is that it's not possible b to do this as a layperson.I complained about a slcr who,acting in a private capacity as an executor ignored the will dividing the assets between herself and her brother and depriving the other 4 beneficiaries.
We complained that she had brought the profession into disrepute/damaged public confidence .
After months and months and months where they lead us a merry dance - eg pretending that we were trying to recover funds(which they don't deal with and we were not basing the complaint on)struggling to submit sound files of a voice mail and when we finally succeeded responding with a request for an expert witness in voice identification .
Kind of fair enough but I wish I'd known at the outset that the evidence they require is of the same standard as needed in a court of law.Our evidence didn't meet their "evidential burden" was not "probative".

But it’s not the conveyancer’s fault for not knowing that the neighbour lied on a form. That’s not negligence.

you want an aggressive Rottweiler to go after either the conveyancer (because your neighbour or vendor lied on a form, something the conveyancer cannot be expected to know), or the neighbour (because you’re in breach of a covenant that’s might cause a hazardous situation with your property, and that breach is your conveyancer’s fault), but you don’t want the aggressive Rottweiler to go in all guns blazing. At the same time, you have no money to pay a solicitor because you paid off a mortgage in full in 10 months, but you want results within 2 days in August?

it doesn’t read like measured gathering of evidence - it sounds like desperately trying to find someone to blame for something that might go wrong with the house but hasn’t.

@Vermin But it’s not the conveyancer’s fault for not knowing that the neighbour lied on a form. That’s not negligence.
I'm not being sarcastic and genuinely don't know and perhaps I've misunderstood but I thought the situation was that the seller who is also the neighbour lied and presumably didn't declare a covenant.
So conveyancers rely on information from sellers and don't make their own enquiries?

Correct- they advise on what’s presented to them. If the covenant wasn’t declare and isn’t registered, how does the conveyancer know? They don’t physically visit properties and are reliant on the information provided. If the neighbour/ vendor lied, the purchaser’s solicitor is not liable for their dishonesty (if the covenant is in the land register and they failed to advise on it - totally at fault).

If the covenant isn't registered then it isn't enforceable either. So either it is registered and the conveyancer missed it or it isn't registered and you're going to be in a dispute with a neighbour as they try to enforce it.

Mmm, well , good to know that buyers need to check on the land registry for covenants on property they are buying. And not rely on the person doing the conveyancing to do this. This would not have occurred to me.

I'm not sure that's right!

The covenant is on the land register.

It's squarely on your conveyancer for not realising it's there then

Especially as they apparently didn't cross check with the seller's responses!

@NoWordForFluffy I'd imagine they did but just missed the covenant in the title!!