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

Good that they're an SRA reg firm, they're PII will be good. And don't be sorry for being evasive - you're right to be.

Buckle up for the long run on this OP - caveat emptor plus covenant law means this will be complex. I'm so sorry for the position you're in.

Can you not just sell it on...? And let someone else 'buyer beare' (rubbish, I know).

"Their" PII will be good and "beware". Sorry, am in the middle of a Monopoly Game!!

We will but we will be totally honest so that the buyer accepts the cost. It means losing a fair bit. But I personally wouldn’t dream of lying or trying to hide it. That’s just so low.

You don't have to disclose it - it's for them to discover during their due diligence.

I know the main point here is the terrible position that both the OP and the slcr are in and also that professionals who know much better than I have said
And don't be sorry for being evasive - you're right to be.
But I can't help wondering what it could be
I'm thinking now, canal lock, waterway, old mill.
I'm a bit ashamed of myself for being shallow.

If it's chancel repair costs I've a fair bit of information on that.

Her case isn't against the buyer though? Caveat emptor doesn't mean anything in a breach of contract claim against the solicitor which is what this will be.

So it was a first registration? That is, the property had never been registered before with the Land Registry?

If they do sell on, then this means the covenant will already be picked up and added to the Land Register. Assuming the OPs title is a first registration.
This is where all the title deeds are or should be scrutinised thoroughly.

Sounds like the OP bought a part of land from X. X is still their neighbour, so it was a transfer of part - the land belonging to X was carved up. I think this because the OP
Mentions the neighbour not mentioning the covenant earlier in the thread but why would we rely on anything the neighbour says unless we thought they have a duty to disclose because they're the sellers. (They don't have a duty to disclose, by the way).

The case against the original conveyancing solicitor will rest on whether the sol was professionally negligent and didn't investigate the title enough or disclose to the buyers, her clients, the covenant and ramifications which is significant - despite being pretty historic - and fully report to them.

The OP will have to persuade the (in a case against the original conv sol) Court that the covenant IS going to lead to a loss (damages/quantum).

They'll have to quantify their loss somehow.

If they didn't want to go down this route, which will be long, expensive (initial outlay) and arduous then they could sell the house. If they are not in a dispute with the neighbours, they needn't disclose the covenant.

The buyers (previous and future) must due their own due diligence on the property - survey and legal title stuff. Buyer beware still rules, despite recent attempts to up-Chuck that.

The prof neg claim may be mitigated because the buyers did not survey the THING (whatever it is) at all.

They'll have to persuade the Court that had they known about the covenant, they'd not have bought it, despite not having a survey and not actually knowing the costs involved.

First the OP will have to show damages in £'s.

Then they will have to get onto cause.

OP, why not go to a direct access barrister and get an Opinion. It'll sort the men from the boys from the off - they'll tell you what chance you've got.

If you DM me where you arebased, I'll search some out and see if I can get any reccies from my team (back in work next week, but you have time).

@SphincterSaysWhat Impressive, that is a pretty good summation! There are a couple of incorrect points (because you’ve had to assume as I’ve left them out) and I believe they’re very relevant but would be too revealing. I will definitely message you and I’m very grateful for your’s and the other legal professionals help on here @BurntBroccoli @kirinm (sorry if I haven’t picked up on others)I promise I will resurrect this thread when I feel at a safe distance, if anyone is still interested, I’ll fill in the facts.
in the meantime, I will say again what a wonderful help you’ve all been helping me (us) get through the initial shock.🥰
@Thisoldheartofmine your post made me laugh. I hope you’re suitably ‘shamed’. 😆

OP don't waste your money on a barrister. You need (ironically) a solicitor.

@kirinm Why do you say that Kirinm?

@kirinm have you instructed a DA barrister recently? They are extremely, and I mean extremely well positioned in terms of costs for the general public.

It will do no harm to find out the costs, but it will be the future. No doubt. The public just don't realise it's a thing.

A sol will prepare a brief AND THEN obtain Opinion!!

Don't discount it because it sounds cart before horse or unnecessarily expensive. It really isn't.

OP / per chance did your sol obtain any title defect insurance?

I don’t know so I am assuming not? Would I know about it?

I'm a solicitor. Are you? Solicitors are quite capable of assessing prospects and issuing letters of claim. I do it all the time.

There's nothing unusually complicated here. You pay £2k+ for an opinion from counsel and then what? Yep, you need a solicitor.

Because you need to make a claim. A barrister will give you a one off advice. And then you will still need a solicitor to pursuer the claim for you.

You ought to know about it (if you have it). It's taken out when a solicitor is concerned that an issue with the title can't be perfected either at all or in the time the client needs it to be. So it's an insurance against THAT - whatever - RISK which is like any insurance - for financial loss.

You can get restrictive covenant indemnity insurance policies but you ought to know about it because you should receive what's called a Demands and Needs letter about the insurance (what it covers, what it doesn't, what you should do and what you shouldn't do).

If you've spoken to your original conv sol and she's not mentioned it then it's perhaps a longshot. What's your original firm's next steps? Have they put their PII provider on notice?

No that definitely wasn’t mentioned. I’ve never heard of it. No I don’t believe the PII provider is on notice.

Yes, I'm a solicitor.

A DA barrister will give Opinion before the OP runs up £350 per hour for an aggressive litigator plus their trainee's time on top.

There'll be no need for a barrister because it'll settle - we all know it will. This won't see court. But a DA Opinion will, as I said, sort the men from the boys. And it's not that much money - but you might not know that because we generally don't instruct DA barristers.

Once I'd had the report, the conveyancing file and comment from current firm, I'd go DA before deciding to proceed with a prof neg claim.

Ok thank you.

You will need a sol to see the claim through l, that's for sure. But getting an Opinion early doors - if the claim is not clear cut - is an option. Not lots of lots of lay people know that it's a possibility so just something else to consider.

@Dinnerplatedahlia you might also want to have a read around ATE insurance. The 'find a solicitor' section of the law society website can help you search for firms by their location and specialisms too. Good luck OP.

Thanks @SphincterSaysWhat & @kirinm. We have not officially complained yet, we have asked the, ‘how did this happen?’ type questions but I can see that we are going to have to lay it out very clearly saying we are complaining (as per their policy). As yet we have had no response to our questions but this was only in writing a couple of days ago.. Previously we had verbalised our questions but we didn’t get an answer. I do believe they are very busy at the moment and there is AL being taken so I think it would be fair to give them a couple of weeks for a response. I hate the thought of complaining about her, she’s so lovely. It’s horrible having a complaint made about you when you thought you were doing your best for your clients. 🙁