I can’t believe my solicitor did this

[TipsyPeachSnake]

So I accepted an offer on a terraced house which I bought over 10 years ago. Double glazing was put in back then, similar to others on the street. However, it has now come to light that the house is a listed building and there is no listed building consent.

I could purchase indemnity insurance to cover this for buyer but have found out that my solicitor contacted the council asking for retrospective LBC!!

Because of the actions of my solicitor the council have been made aware of unauthorised work on the property which could potentially lead to significant penalties and loss of sale.

I’m shocked a solicitor acting on my behalf would do this. What can I do? Anyone had similar experience? Please, any advice would be appreciated.

You now most likely won't be able to purchase an indemnity policy, due to the solicitor's actions. If that proves the case I think you'd need to follow the complaints procedure at the solicitor's firm. It should be detailed on their website.

Lots of buyers wouldn't accept an indemnity policy in this instance, so you may need to replace the windows anyway. However your solicitor has probably made this a certainty.

You’ve been living in a property with unauthorised works. As a listed property owner you are a custodian of the property and responsible for its preservation, so you are at fault, regardless of whether you knew or not. Soooo many people who buy listed properties don’t understand the implications. I’m a planning consultant and deal with this scenario all the time.

what they did might have been a bit hasty, but ultimately it needs to be done. If the council approve it then what’s the harm?

You’re absolutely right, which is why indemnity policies are pretty worthless. So many buyers just see to accept them without realising that though.

Okay cool - sorry that would just be one of the only legitimate reasons! If they had a legal obligation then fair enough.....

I would be absolutely furious if my solicitor did this without my consent. There is no legal obligation for them to inform the council. The very least they should have down is discussed this with you first and made you aware of the consequences. They have failed spectacularly and I would be going down the complaints route for their unnecessary action. Maybe it was a trainee solicitor who did this and unaware of the correct procedure / implications?

My neighbour who deals with indemnity policies says it is still possible to purchase one but with restrictions. Have you checked if this is the case with your solicitor?

I thought doing stuff to a listed building is potentially criminally liable? So it needs consent or sorting whilst you still own the house?

You’re correct. It was actually a trainee solicitor that contacted the council. I’ve been told the case has now been taken over by a senior partner going forward.

Solicitor also told me they have been able to get an indemnity but it is only valid if there is no further contact from the council for 10 weeks after their last contact with them. The insurance are aware of this. It’s still quicker than going down the retrospective LBC route but question is if buyer is willing to wait that long.

Property is in a very popular area and I had several offers within a few days of it going to market. I don’t think buyer would be put off replacing windows if necessary as he is a builder and mentioned about replacing the windows anyway amongst a few other things. Problem is my solicitors have set the potential sale back a further few months while we wait to see if the council decide to take action!

I’m confused. The property information form requires disclosure of a conservation area or listed building. I bought in a conservation area and definitely knew about it. I’m very sceptical that you weren’t told as I suspect your lender would’ve been told.

You say windows were put in after you’d bought it but before you moved in? How on earth did that work?

I don’t think you can indemnify against a criminal act in any case. If you have put uPVC in they have no chance of getting retrospective consent either.

I think you are focussing on the wrong thing here.

I moved in several weeks after I bought it, while it was getting ready I was still renting, what is so unusual about that?

Do you think the solicitor is not telling me the truth when they say they can indemnify it? I’ve lost all faith in them to be honest.

Not sure what the relevance of your moving in date is? When you bought it surely you would have been made aware of its listing. Do you still have the paperwork?

I had this once when a solicitor refused to work for us when I wasn’t on the mortgage but was going to live there and she thought it was a lie and I did have an interest in the property. I said but he is instructing you. She said something like she was looking after all parties and that’s her job. So that’s why they’ve done it. It doesn’t matter who instructs them, they just have to do it properly.

The relevance is I was replying to another poster who couldn’t understand how it was possible to replace windows prior to moving in!!

how can it be breaching client confidentiality if the client didn’t actually tell the solicitor?

It very much does matter who instructs them. Solicitors have a duty of confidentiality to their clients. It’s extremely rare that that duty can be overridden without the client’s consent. Technically this breach is a criminal offence but if a client tells you they murdered someone there’s no duty to tell the police so it’s hardly reasonable to dob someone in to the council for this.

Confidentiality applies to all information provided by or relating to a client. It’s not just what the client tells you. There is also the duty to act in your client’s best interests which I would say prevent disclosure without consent too.

i am having trouble accepting that you didn’t know you were buying a listed property.

Well, the whole point of them is to make sure everything is legal. I assume this confidentiality doesn’t apply to things that aren’t legal… which it sounds like this isn’t.

you need to check if they are familiar with listed buildings and understand that any unauthorised works are criminal.

I also thought there was a duty to inform the police if you know a client has murdered someone…

It does apply to things that aren’t legal. If you’re a criminal lawyer and your client tells you they committed a murder you can’t tell the police. It’s different if they say they’re going to commit a crime but even then only money laundering and terrorism have a statutory duty to report.

You can’t advance a positive defence on their behalf as that would be misleading the court but you cannot disclose it to the police and you can continue to act for them and test the prosecution’s case.

I’m a lawyer (not property).

It’s in our Code of Ethics to not mislead a court. So, you can’t represent your murderer client as innocent if they’ve confessed to you they did indeed commit murder. Not telling the council is categorically not misleading them. It’s called shutting the fuck up.

Also, there’s no confi to breach. The windows are visible to the world. The listed status is public info.

I’d be coming down full whack on your solicitor, OP.

Well, well, well. Consider me flabbergasted. Genuinely