Serious delays in signing-lost deeds and solictors not helping

S

spurs fan

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Hello all

the following is a series of events which may seem so farcical or far fetched that they are unbelievable, but I assure you they are 100% accurate.

In August 2005 I put a deposit down on a house of €8K. The value of the property was €370K.

I was told by the estate agent that the transaction should close in 1-2 months as is the norm.

I heard nothing for 2 months, as a result i asked my solicitor what the hold up was. he informed me it was a ward of courts case and would be a little longer.

The estate agent informed me that documents were ready for signing in November 2005 and I should call my solicitor and make an appointment.

For 2 weeks i called my solicitor ( a solcitor that was recomended on this site)once each day, on each of the 10 occassions i got his voicemail. I asked him to call me back each time, but i received no response. I obtained his email and maiLed him asking him why he had not responded, here is the response, which is the best piece of customer relations you will ever see.

"bomdarding this office shall not make it move quicker and unless you stop, I intend to withdraw otherwise I shall be in touch after I have had a chance to review the new paperwork - it is in a queue"

I eventually signed contracts in mid december, My solicitor told me that keys should be issued by end january 2006.

In mid february I contacted him to see what was delay and was again warned off. I then learned that the vendors solicitor had left the firm and the transaction had been handed to another solicitor. The second solcitor then died and now a 3rd solicitor has been appointed

I have now been told that the title deeds and land registry cert has been lost by the vendor and this has held the property up further

Today I ranG the estate agent telling them the truth, that I cant hold on forever, I have a 5 week old child and and need to have a house.

The agent told me

" we dont mind if you withdraw, we would get 3% of an extra 100K if it went back on the market"

This lunchtime Icontacted my solicitor and begged him to put some pressure on.

He reponded with

"
vendor sols not yet released signed contracts on it - probably linked to their problems over lost title deeds etc - therefore both buyer and seller can withdraw - it is only option open to you - this firm is incurring losses supplying you with a continued service over this long period of time and I need to review it I cannot "update you" as the vendor sols are neglecting to communicate with this office".

If someone reading this has any idea of any course of action i can take please let me know


 
This is a pretty bad series of events. Although your solicitor hasn't particularly done anything wrong he hasn't exactly been proactive. Was this a cut price legal service? It looks to me like the solicitor is more interested in his profit margin, clearly very tight, than your house. It may be worth your while hanging in because of the continually rising property market but you would need the support of your solicitor. Being told that you are in a queue is a pretty awful level of professional service, thats the sort of thing you expect from a cut price airline You should ask your solictor for a written account of the situation as it stands, a statement of the amount of fees that you would owe if you withdrew or appointed another solicitor and an estimate of how much he will charge you to complete the transaction with a proper level of service. You can then make an informed decision and if necessary approach other solicitors to take over the transaction. If no documentation has been sent by your solicitor to the bank yet (shouldn't have happened if contracts not signed by both parties) there should be no problem transfering the file.
 
thanks ramble

would you have any idea what would happen if the vendor withdrew. Would I be entitled to any compensation

Spurs fan
 
Your solicitor is correct. They haven't returned signed contracts, so there is no contract, and hence no compensation.
I would give up at this stage. Once they sort out the title documents, they are likely to remarket it to take advantage of rising prices.
 
I'm not sure I would give up, if they do find the papers and decide not to pull out you will save yourself a massive amount of money, chances are you wouldn't be able to get the same type house anymore because prices have gone so crazy. Maybe you could contact the vendor's solicitor and try to extract some information out of him?
 
It really does sound like they are trying to shake you off, put the house back on the market and sell it to someone else. Get our 8k back and look elsewhere.
 
I tried to contact the vendors solictor but they stated that they had no obligation to talk to me, only to my solicitor.

My solicitor has said that he wont put any further pressure on them as he has put enough time into the transaction.

I really am powerless. The law society has told me they are not interested as has the ombudsman.

I am very disillusioned by the whole thing really
 
You signed contracts in Mid December. Presumably your solicitor was happy with the paperwork at that stage or he would not have allowed you to sign. One solicitor has moved on and another has died. I imagine that the vendor's solicitor's practice is in disarray.

Otherwise, there should be no delay on the other side in signing the contracts and returning them. It is one of those awful dilemmas - you are being messed around by the vendor and you don't know whether your solicitor can do anything about it. I doubt if changing solicitor now will help. It's unlikely another solicitor will be able to speed things up.

Unfortunately you can't really forget about this house. You have signed contracts. They haven't. They have all their options open to them. They can sign them if it suits them or they can refuse to sign them. My gut feeling is that they will proceed with the sale. A solicitor told me that it is rare for people to pull out after contracts have been issued and returned. It happens, but is rare.

Just in case, you should start the process of looking around again. Obviously you cannot commit to another house until you have legally cancelled the other contract.

The best of luck with the case

Brendan
 
I meant to say that you should only change your solicitor if you knew that the new solicitor was going to be able to solve the problem. It's very hard for a solcitor to solve this problem and you might go from bad to worse.

Brendan
 
cheers,

one thing i would like to do when this nightmare is all over is to name and shame the solicior for the manner has has treated me and my partner over the last 8 months. The sole purpose of this would be to protect fellow site users from similar treatment in the future.

I cant do it before completion as i fear he would deliberatley delay the transaction further.
 
Hi Spurs fan,

Sorry to hear of your plight.

Please do not name and shame the solicitor here, for fear of dragging Brendan (as owner of the site) into libel proceedings.

You said above that the solicitor was recommended to you here. Another poster speculated above that this is a "cut price legal service" solicitor. If this is the case, it would be most helpful to other AAM users if you can confirm this without naming the solicitor. Maybe people can draw their own conclusions after that.
 
If anyone wants the name of the solicitor in question, I suggest that they PM spurs fan for details.

I will second what ubiquitous said about libel etc., but people should bear in mind that this solicitor was recommended by others on AAM, so be careful if you intend engaging a solicitor that has been recommended here before.

Enough said.
 
no problem, I understand and wont name him

however a libel case can only occur where there is no evidence to back up the allegations

I have written evidence in the form of emails sent to my personal mail box.

looks like ill need to vent my anger in another manner
 
however a libel case can only occur where there is no evidence to back up the allegations
Click to expand...

Hi Spurs Fan

I don't at all want to get into an argument with you over this subject, but unfortunately the above statement is incorrect.

Anyone who has reason to believe that they have been libelled by another person is free to take a case against that person. It is up to the defendant in the case to either defend themselves or concede the case. This is usually a tortuous, costly, uncertain and nerve-racking process for all concerned. Many people have been ruined in the process - even some who have ended up on the winning side of a case. Many people have conceded cases (even when they have done nothing wrong) because they could not afford the cost of defending a case, nor even a minor risk of ultimately losing a case.

Although Brendan is well able to speak for himself, I doubt if he would be reckless enough to expose himself to the risk involved in such proceedings - even if it turns out that there is compelling evidence to support your comments.

In the meantime, if your solicitor was offering a "cut price" service, it might well be sufficient for you to mention this in order that other AAM users won't suffer the same problems as yourself.
 
please relax, i have already stated that i would not name him

and i have no intention of arguing with anyone on this site.
 
My feeling on this is that the vendor won't pull out. You mentioned at the beginning of the post that the wards of court office are involved, I don't think a ward of court comittee are likely to gazump and have to start the whole process all over again. The most likely reason the property is being sold is to pay nursing home or other medical costs. A lost land cert is not the end of the world and could be sorted. Have you asked the estate agent to contact the vendor directly? Have you tried to contact the vendor? You really need someone batting on your behalf in this, if enough pressure is put in the right places it can be sorted. In these difficult ones sometimes the purchasers solicitor basically has to do all the vendors work but if thats what it takes the client should be looked after. If your solicitor isn't up to it you need to find one who is.
 
I agree that i need someone batting on my side.

Since this process started I have never received one phonecall or email from my solicitor offering me any information whatsoever.

I am now in the rediculous position that i cant contact my solicitor as he has
1) threatened to withdraw- after deducting his fee for "work to date"
2) threatened to up the fee-

off my own back i contacted the courts, guess what? they would not talk to me but advised I contacted the vendord solicitor

Off my own back I contacted the vendors solicitor and now they wont talk to me as they have an obligation only to the sellor

As a professional myself I find it unbelievable that business can be carried out this way,

If i was told today that it would be definetly be completed within 6 months I would be happy as at least i could plan.
 
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