right then, we found a place, got a mortgage, packed, got a completion date and a date for getting the keys from our solicitor, so far so good. midday on the keys day, last friday we get a call from the solicitor saying, oops, we did the final search and came up with 2 outstanding mortgage debts from 1965 and 1978, totaling 4 grand or so, we can’t complete. apparently our funds got sent back to the bank if we don’t complete within 3 days of the completion date, we have given notice on our rented place for aug 1st, solicitors have no idea when we can complete, its between the vendor and their bank. we since found out they can do these particular searches up to 28 days before completion, but often don’t. question is, have we got any case for redress against our solicitors, given that they left it till the last day to finish searches? potentially we could end up homeless! tho it won’t come to that! any thoughts? ta

The last house I bought my solicitor got done for Fraud on the day we were supposed to exchange and complete on the same day so therefore we got stuck for another three months. so in summary it could be worse.

Can’t you sign a document that basically says if needed you’ll pay the £4k?

If you had to pay the £4k it maybe cheaper than it all falling apart.

You have my sympathies as conveyancers can be ****ing useless IME. Sorry I can’t suggest anything but I’d like to think you have a case for redress. I guess their insurance doesn’t cover it?

your solicitors can be held accountable for loss. My bro in law (ish), purchased a flat a few years ago, he’s been trying to sell it recently but can’t because of a covenant on it – it’s an old folks flat – no under 55’s! This reduced the value of the flat by about 20-30K when he came to sell it. He went after the solicitors through the Financial ombudsman peeps (someone else as well) and they were about to cough up when the restriction was lifted..

anyway, solicitors are useless in my experience. Most of that information is not hard to come by if you look. You need to keep on their backs constantly to get anything done..

Have you exchanged contracts?

we have sent back signed forms but the solicitor asked me not to date them – exchange was supposed to be on the 18/07/13 – i need to ask the solicitor whether the exchange actually took place or not

If your solicitor did the search 28 days before completion that gives a bent vendor a full month to run up secured debt on the property that you would then be liable for . Your vendor is the one who can’t complete your redress is against him .

Assuming you have exchanged contracts and were not planning to exchange and complete on the same day.

Best to see a solicitor 😯

and get onto the solicitors complaints dept at lemington spa,

http://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page

If your solicitor did the search 28 days before completion that gives a bent vendor a full month to run up secured debt on the property that you would then be liable for .

True, but why didnt his solicitor tell him this? rather than hearing from you here. They should know the general public dont know this stuff and explain it to us, we are paying them to do all this stuff afterall.

simple, your solicitor needs an undertaking from the seller’s solicitor to pay off those charges from the proceeds of sale – that undertaking is enforceable by your solicitor so you should be covered – how much did you pay for your conveyancing, was this a £99 special.

If you’ve exchanged contracts, just sue the seller for breach of contract until they can complete. That’d be for fair & reasonable costs (storage for your stuff, and a hotel if short term)

Easy peasy, and I bet they find the £4k fairly quickly.

Stato I agree with you but the answer may well be because people are unwilling to pay the true cost of doing conveyancing . The market had been opened up to competition and standards have been pared down by a whole host of factors principaly the banks and building societies putting their profits first and using the solicitors indemnity fund to underwrite their gambles .

Wife says nipper has it. Just get the undertaking that they will cover the 4k issue and things can proceed. Or alternatively hold back 4k as your own undertaking for the debt resolution.

She reckons they never do the searches 28days before as they only last 28 days so they would end up doing 2 or 3 searches considering all the tooling and forgoing usually involved.

Seems a pain they told you at the last minute but then it’s also what you pay them for, to check and make sure you are covered

Stato I agree with you but the answer may well be because people are unwilling to pay the true cost of doing conveyancing . The market had been opened up to competition and standards have been pared down by a whole host of factors principaly the banks and building societies putting their profits first and using the solicitors indemnity fund to underwrite their gambles .

Quite probably. I tried to convince my solicitor i was willing to pay and do things properly (i.e. not rushed). Got knowehere, they basically dont have the stuff and caseload is too high. Business model is pretty fixed if you go with an office based lot. Imagine independent/freelance might be more flexible but doubt any would bother to cater to ‘budget’ end of the market.

Strato for both good and bad reasons independent/freelance tend not to get onto the bank/building society panel so you can’t use them as a purchaser without paying for your lender to also instruct their own sol. It is a condition of your mortgage offer that you use a panel solicitor.

Miller’s solution works so long as there is enough equity at your vendor’s end .

thanx for all the replies, we hadn’t exchanged contracts, we’d signed but not dated them, our solicitor was due to exchange on the 18th, presumably she didn’t because this came up. she is putting the blame firmly in the vendors camp, as i believe is right. we’ve asked for a copy of all emails and phone calls that she has made. will look into nippers suggestion, and no it was significantly more than £99, ta again for advice