Polish solicitor wants more money from me even though the purchase was unsucessful

[phil1147]

last year i attempted to but a flat in poland, paid a deposit etc. I was unfortunatley unsuccessful obtaining a mortgage there. After the first no of failed attempts my solicitor requested half of his fee's, obliged and paid him. After more attempts of a mortgage i decided enough was enough, realised i was not going to get a mortgage there and forfeited the purchase. Lost altogather around 5k for the deposite, agent fee's and solitiors fee's etc.

Now my solicitor over there wants the other half of his fee's even though the deal never went through.

I didnt reply to his emails so now he's threatening formal action, what do i do now?

 

[Dreamerb]

Re: Polish solicitor wants more money from me even though the purchase was unsucessfu

There's every possibility the solicitor put in almost all of the legal work that would have been required for the purchase to proceed. You should have engaged with him in the first place: it's not his fault the purchase didn't proceed, and there is no reason he should forfeit fees owed in respect of work carried out.

In my opinion, you should now respond to the solicitor, ask for an account breaking down the work carried out, and proceed from there. He may be willing to come to a compromise (less likely since you've let the matter slide), but it seems likely to me you will have to pay him if you wish to avoid the balance of the bill being declared an enforceable debt by the Polish courts. That could then - though i don't know the ins and outs of it - be enforced as a debt in Ireland, with possible consequences for your credit rating.

 

[ajapale]

Re: Polish solicitor wants more money from me even though the purchase was unsucessfu

Please post in the correct forum.

Moved from Investments to overseas property investment.

 

[phil1147]

Re: Polish solicitor wants more money from me even though the purchase was unsucessfu

i would have had no problem paying him the other half of his fee's if i felt he had done enough to warrant the payment. I wanted him to liase with the banks there on my behalf to try get a mortgage in place because i cannot speak Polish. He liased with one bank but with the other 5 banks i tried i had to deal with people who spoke very bad english. He was basically telling me that i should cease trying (in different words).

I then found a Polish woman working for a UK company who specialise in Polish mortgages. She contacted my solicitor for some information. She was shocked at the little information he seemed to know about the property, she also complained about his relaxed unprofessional responses he gave to her. She advised me on getting a different solicitor as she gravely doubted him. She also said she contacted the developer and they said that they have not heard from my solicitor in a "long time", even though he claimed to me that he has been contacteing them every couple of days looking for various information.

Another think i was not happy with was the fact that he charged me full solicitor costs and claimed to be a solicitor even though i rang him one evening and he was in "college".

All in all i lost a lot of money over the purchase and it fell through, why would i pay the above solicitor more money when i think he wasnt professional in his services.

 

[Dreamerb]

Re: Polish solicitor wants more money from me even though the purchase was unsucessfu

That's an entirely different set of issues from what you raised in your first post.

The big problem is that you are only dealing with this now. You should have dealt with those issues, and have complained to your solicitor, at the time.

I also think you're probably into the realm of needing professional legal advice here.

With that health warning, and on the strict understanding that I'm not a solicitor and not qualified to give the advice you probably need, what I'd do is the following:
1. Write to solicitor. Set out you concerns over the level of service. Be specific and don't use emotive language.
2. Ask for a breakdown of the work actually carried out by the solicitor on your behalf. Ask what proportion of the initially quoted fee (if any) was for outlays which have not been incurred since the transaction was not completed.

I would not start impugning his professional credentials - 1. because you should have checked that he was qualified in the first place, and 2. because attending college has no implication that he is not properly qualified unless there's a very great deal more to the story [could be anything from continuous professional development courses to taking a degree in nineteenth century russian literature in his spare time].

You can examine his response and take it from there. There may be a Polish equivalent of the Law Society to which you could complain - but given that you'll more than likely require professional translation services to take the matter further, it may well work out cheaper to pay him off and see an end to the whole thing. I suppose it depends on the amount of money involved and the risks you're prepared to take (exposure to equal or greater costs, possible credit rating impairment).

 

[DonKing]

Re: Polish solicitor wants more money from me even though the purchase was unsucessfu

I would concur with Dreamerb's advice.

If you do get a response from the polish solicitor, then I would consider it and respond again refuting any unreasonable claims etc but make him an offer to settle the account(assumming it could be viewed by an arbitrator that he would be entitled to more of his fee).

He may take the view that it would probably be very difficult to extract any money from you through the courts, so if you make a gesture he may accept it and be done with it.

I must admit if it was me and I could see no grounds for him receiving additional money then I wouldn't pay him any more. I would send he written correpondance explaining why I wasn't paying him.

 

[Ancutza]

Re: Polish solicitor wants more money from me even though the purchase was unsucessfu

Personally I wouldn't pay him any more money than you have done already. The purchase was unsuccessful. Probably if it ever went to arbitration then you could document your case and claim unprofessionalism on his behalf.

The reality of the situation is that unless you are a polish resident with other assets in poland then where, exactly, is he going to lay a claim against you? If it's in a polish court then, unless you are resident there, I'd say you probably shouldn't worry too much. He's extremely unlikely to try and pursue a case against you thro' the irish system as it is likely to be more trouble than it's worth to him (not to mention expensive) afterall we're probably talking about a couple of grand max, right?

Personally I'd write him a polite e-mail/letter explaining your position and ignore all other correspondence. Harsh but probably fair.

 

[phil1147]

Re: Polish solicitor wants more money from me even though the purchase was unsucessfu

Thanks all for your inputs.

Also thanks Ancutza... I think ill just ignore any correspondence and if it ever comes down to arbitration ill fight my case.

As i said i dont feel he was professional enough from the offset, i forget to mention he wrote a power of attorney for me at the start that i had to get signined from a solicitor here and the solicitor here had to completely re-write it as it was very "loose".

I just hope i dont have to attend court over there because of this. I dont think not paying a fee can affect my credit rating here, can it?>

 

[DonKing]

Re: Polish solicitor wants more money from me even though the purchase was unsucessfu

Thanks all for your inputs.

Also thanks Ancutza... I think ill just ignore any correspondence and if it ever comes down to arbitration ill fight my case.

I do think that you should send him a letter or e-mail detailing your greviances if you haven't done so already.

 

[Ancutza]

Re: Polish solicitor wants more money from me even though the purchase was unsucessfu

Don't just ignore all future contacts. You MUST send him an e-mail or letter as I previously said. Keep it polite and to the point. Thereafter ignore further corespondence.

If the same thing happened to me in Romania where I am resident and own property then I'd fight him tooth, fang and nail. I'm sure I'd win!

You are in a much better circumstance. Use it and don't let yourself be bullied.

 

[phil1147]

Re: Polish solicitor wants more money from me even though the purchase was unsucessfu

ok thanks again, i did actually send him an email on Friday asking him why he keeps insisting on more money as the deal did not go through. I didnt mention in the email that i felt his services did not warrent further payment because of his lack of professionalism, instead i wanted to see what he says back first before i give him the full reasons why im not paying.

When i get a reply from him, no doubt saying that he did "lots of work" in the last 2 months" ill then reply with the complaints i have. That should knoc him back a bit. If it doesnt knock him back ill just ignore any future correspondence. Im not happy with this stualtion and i have always paid well for a good service, unfortunately this was not a good service.