Solicitor won't return deeds - but have buyer

Hi!

I have a buyer for a rental property - he approached me. However, I have been trying to get Deeds from my old solicitor for six months, but to no avail.

When the Law Society became involved, he eventually sent me some of the Deed. The Deed he sent me only covers up until 2008, when the Deed was split, allowing me to retain a mews house, while the main property was sold. Basically, the Schedule and the Deed are incomplete from the time of the sale. It looks actually like he never split the Deed and has sold the whole property. Further, I have checked the Registry of Deeds and the property is not registered against my name.

Further, I bought my own private residence in 2009 - he is also refusing to give me the Deeds of that, and that property is also not registered against my name.

I don't owe him any money. He has asked for a scrivenery fee of e100 which I forwarded.

The Law Society don't seem to be doing anything about the incomplete Deed, the fact that I have a buyer who is threatening to walk, and about getting the Deeds to my own property. Where do I go from here?

Without knowing what deeds you have, it's hard to give advice. With the rental property, you should have original deeds up to when you bought it. When you sold part of it, you would have passed on the original deed for that part to the person who bought it (and probably retained a copy), but still kept the original deeds up to that point.

Are there solicitors involved in either side of this transaction you are planning? They are the people who will be best placed to read the deeds, and interpret the quality of your title. If it turns out there was an error at some point, a deed of rectification would probably be needed to sort it out.

Regarding your own property the deeds should be forthcoming, and there's no real excuse for not passing them on to you, unless there is a mortgage and he is holding the deeds on trust for the bank, as they would be entitled to custody of them.

Solicitor won't return deed - but have buyer

Hi! 126, thanks for your reply. The solicitor is refusing to give me the Contract for Sale between my mother and the original owner in 1989. He is also refusing to give me the Contract for Sale between myself and the new owner of the main house in 2008. He is also refusing to furnish me with the map which I had an engineer draw up which delineated both properties. He sent part of the Deeds stating that he included the Contract for Sale between my mother and the original owner, but didn't, and has not sent it on to me despite requests. He has not answered emails re the Contract for Sale between me and the purchaser in 2008. Further, and more worryingly, the new owner from 2008 is listed in the Registry as the owner of the whole property. I am so stressed, if you have any advice I would really welcome it.

So far, I am meeting with a new solicitor tomorrow to deal with everything. I have also contacted the Irish Times for a copy of the advert stating that it was only the main property that was sold. I have also contacted the auctioneer who sold the property and he is providing me with a letter to state that it was only the main property that was sold. I have documents in storage, and think I might have a copy of the Deeds as I originally gave him in 2008 before I sold the property.

Does anyone know what this solicitor is at? I know a friend of his tried to buy my property and I didn't sell it to him. He was so insistent on buying it that I felt almost stalked. I don't know if the solicitor's current actions are related to that.

Would really welcome any advice as I have found the last two/three weeks very difficult and worrying.

Solicitor won't return deeds

Sorry, 126, I meant to say that there is no mortgage on my own private residence, so there is no reason to withhold the Deeds, nor, as I think I mentioned before, do I owe him any money. Yesterday, my brother went down to the Land Registry and my own private residence is actually registered to me - so at least that is something!

Solicitor won't return Deeds

My former solicitor still won't return my Deeds - in eighteen months requesting them he has only every asked me for a scrivenery fee, which I have paid - though I note from the Solicitor's Code of Conduct that he is not entitled to such a fee for forwarding Deeds. Now however, he has stated that I owe him outstanding fees and that is the reason he is not forwarding the Deeds - yet I have paid him in full for each conveyancing transaction - the last fee I paid him was the requested e300 for arranging a mortgage 2012. In the eighteen months I have been requesting the Deeds, he has only asked for a scrivenery fee, but now that the Law Society has written to him, he is saying I owe him outstanding fees, but won't forward any bill despite requests - so far pursing this and getting solicitors to correspond with him for my Deeds has cost me dearly in terms of money. Would it be just easier to get the Deeds reconstructed - one of the properties should be easy to reconstruct as it is Land Registry property, registered in 2010?

This reminds me of another Thomas Byrne scenario. A lesson to be learned is that going to a big firm might be expensive but saves a huge amount of hassle.

That's something else Elaine. What advice has your new solicitor said? Usually they get all high and mighty in these situations and start sending each other letters in their legal speak that you can barely understand. That would be a starting point for me.

I would also start with making a request for a copy of your file under the data protection act. He will have 40 days to give you a copy of the file.

I am surprised the Law Society hasn't taken any more action. One of their members refusing to give back the deeds? It sounds a bit dodgy. I'd be ringing them every day to get some sort of action taken.