solicitor looking for unpaid fees 6 years after house sale

[ubiquitous]

Do guidelines not exist that bills should be sent out quickly. I mean do you guys make so much money that you can wait a couple of years to start sending out invoices? I've never heard of such a thing. It's different if you sent out an invoice and didn't get paid and send reminders, but why after the second strongly worded reminder would one not sue for the debt?

The original poster said

"they (the solicitors) say they tried contact us at an apartment we lived in (in another town) at they time of the sale."

It appears from this that the solicitors did bill the OP at the time, only the bill never reached them as they had moved in the meantime. Unfortunately the OP hasn't returned to confirm if this is what happened.

 

[jhegarty]

The op has been collecting the post from the apartment address which the solicitor has for 6 years now...

 

[ubiquitous]

The op has been collecting the post from the apartment address which the solicitor has for 6 years now...

They never said that. They did say:

hi,we bought a house over 6 yrs ago from my mother( was my grandparents housre). we have rented it since and pick up post every now and then---never anything really there for us.anyhow our solicitor who did that sale for us has just comntacted us through my parents saying they have unpaid solicitors fees we need to pay. they say they tried contact us at an apartment we lived in (in another town) at they time of the sale.

 

[Bronte]

Vanilly you said what you would do (and I believe you) not what you would advise the client in relation to a plumber. By the way if my solicitor billed me for something quite old that was overlooked I would pay too as I have great respect for their business and the quality of work they do and I too would in general know if something was owing and double check. Ubi, I don't believe that sending a bill to an incorrect address counts as sending a bill. In any case if one had no reply/payment after say a month or two should the business do more than wait 6 years for a reminder. As for saying that registration takes years is no excuse for not sending a bill and that it was overlooked, that is incompetence. About a month ago on here I suggested that to speed up registration that bills should only be sent out on registration but that was rubbished as a suggestion, you cannot have it both ways.

 

[alaskaonline]

now i'll join in into this discussion by saying that it's not the OP who gets paid for doing/ checking/ staying on track with the solicitors accountant side but the solicitor only him/ herself. plus for every service done by the solicitor if you break down the fees, you find "admin costs" stated on it as well - again it's not the OP who gets paid for such admin services, it's the solicitor and for that matter alone it's the solicitor who didn't do their job properly or otherwise the bill would have reached OP on time!

regardless of how often OP changed her/ his address, if the solicitor was really keen to get paid at the time (6 years ago) he would have known the right channels to get her/ his current address PLUS there is always the good aul "registered post" way which ensures that post will be delivered and signed for.

and i agree with some posters who said that where would OP stand if she had realised that the solicitor owns her 5k. nobody would really care than either and instead would tell her "tough but nothing you can do about it" and i doubt that the solicitor then would feel morally obliged to cough up

by the way, i always pay my bills on time and would even if it's 6 years later but i understand other people's stand-points on this matter!

 

[ubiquitous]

and i agree with some posters who said that where would OP stand if she had realised that the solicitor owns her 5k. nobody would really care than either and instead would tell her "tough but nothing you can do about it" and i doubt that the solicitor then would feel morally obliged to cough up

Are you serious??? The Law Society would force the solicitor to repay her on demand.

 

[Caveat]

I'd say the OP is having great crack at this stage.

Any chance of feedback/further details karenkarenk?

 

[FKH]

Bottom line is that if a client asked for advice re paying the invoice I'd say that if they were sued for an invoice outstanding for over 6 years then the claim was statute barred. End of story.

If a solicitor was defending a client for a crime, even if the client committed same, the solicitor can only defend the client as per their instructions and if they want to plead not guilty that's their decision. You can't say that morally they should plead guilty and fess up to the crime.

 

[mf1]

"Bottom line is that if a client asked for advice re paying the invoice I'd say that if they were sued for an invoice outstanding for over 6 years then the claim was statute barred. End of story."

I might tell them that the debt was statute barred but I'd suggest they pay it if they owe it. I definitely would not act for them if they were sued - why would you act for someone who won't pay a colleague fees?

"If a solicitor was defending a client for a crime, even if the client committed same, the solicitor can only defend the client as per their instructions and if they want to plead not guilty that's their decision. You can't say that morally they should plead guilty and fess up to the crime. "

A solicitor can decide not to do this sort of work.

mf

 

[alaskaonline]

Are you serious??? The Law Society would force the solicitor to repay her on demand.

did i sound like i wasn't? i meant that if she realised after 6 years the solicitor owed her money she or someone else for that matter could not demand it back from him/ her because of the "statute barred" situation and nobody would care if he doesn't pay except for her. How comes the Law Society doesn't force her to pay a bill that comes 6 years later? you don't need to answer that.

 

[Bronte]

I didn't ask about a colleague's fee and that is where the problem is, I asked if a client came with a plumber's bill of more than 6 years what would you tell them to do. What if it was your best client of 20 years standing? Not to do something against a colleague is not a good reason not to act for someone and I'm surprised you said it, but I do understand your loyalty to colleagues, what if the bill arrived after 20 years because the solicitor was incompetant?

 

[ubiquitous]

i meant that if she realised after 6 years the solicitor owed her money she or someone else for that matter could not demand it back from him/ her because of the "statute barred" situation and nobody would care if he doesn't pay except for her. .

The "statute barred" restriction does not apply to client funds held by solicitors. The Law Society compels all such solictors to repay all such sums on demand, regardless of how long the funds have been held. Which pretty much undermines your argument

 

[FKH]

"I might tell them that the debt was statute barred but I'd suggest they pay it if they owe it. I definitely would not act for them if they were sued - why would you act for someone who won't pay a colleague fees?"

It's not my job to tell people what to do, rather to advise them on their legal options which in this case would be that there is no legal mechanism to force payment of the debt. The fact that the debt is owed to a solicitor rather than someone else is irrelevant.

Personally I wouldn't sue a colleague and I know most solicitors feel the same way Bronte.

 

[karenkarenk]

inanswer to all the those up on their high horse about my predicament. 1 . the solicitor did a deal at the time because i bought the house from my mother and she used him too. 2. i did pay for legal fees at the time as did my mother, this matter is about something he forgot to include at the time. 3. just because i am a new user of this site does not make me a liar/ cheat etc. my question is real and what i needed to know is the legality of the claim by the solictor. 4. when i bought the house i was quoted a price for the work by him. i chose him because i could afford the price at the time. 3 children later our circumstances have changed so now is not the time to be given a surprise bill. 4. use your imagination , there are lots of reasons to be told at an early date what monies are owed to whom. its of benefit to both parties. 5 that solicitor has since been in contact and apologised firstly we should not have been contacted as the bill would have been out of date but more importantly, their system at the time was very outdated and they mislaid the information stating we had paid in full. they have since located it.

 

[Vanilla]

Great, all's well that end's well so. Don't think anyone was calling you a 'liar/cheat'. The discussion went off on a tangent!

 

[Bronte]

It's not my job to tell people what to do, rather to advise them on their legal options which in this case would be that there is no legal mechanism to force payment of the debt. The fact that the debt is owed to a solicitor rather than someone else is irrelevant.

Personally I wouldn't sue a colleague and I know most solicitors feel the same way Bronte.

Thank you for that FKH ( I was beginning to feel I was defending the indefensible) I of course know that solicitors don't like to act against one another, (understandably particularly in a small country, nor do other professionals) that's why the Law Society have a list of solicitors that will and everyone is entitled to legal representation no matter who is being sued.

OP that's a great end result.

 

[karenkarenk]

yes good result thanks to those who helped ease a very worried mother, also see MF1's answer no. 19. i think somewhere in there i became morally questionable!!-

 

[dem_syhp]

Great news! I wonder was he/she reading this? Anyone want to own up It was fascinating to see which side people fell on this one!

 

[ubiquitous]

Thanks karenkarenk for the update.

5 that solicitor has since been in contact and apologised firstly we should not have been contacted as the bill would have been out of date but more importantly, their system at the time was very outdated and they mislaid the information stating we had paid in full. they have since located it.

It was bad form of them to request payment of you, after such a long delay, when they weren't 100% sure (or hadn't checked) that the bill was actually outstanding.

 

[postman pat]

just a thought..morals and solicitors........strange bedfellows


Pat