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Conflict between solicitors and how to deal with them?

Long story short - it concerns whether a solicitor has been libellous about an opposing solicitor and can be held to account if a house sale goes tits up :


My daughter is selling her flat (shared ownership with Housing Association - 40/60%) and buying a house (empty unoccupied). My son is moving out from under our roof (thank f*ck) and buying his sister's/Housing Association flat. A very short house sale chain starts. Simples....

His offer was accepted around ten weeks back and so he took on a solicitor to handle the sale and so did his sister etc...(different companies based miles apart in different towns - so no association with each other)

The seller of the house was hoping for quick completion as it was empty and presumably they didn't want to pay any more mortgage/insurance for an empty property than they needed to. My son's solicitor has however been quite (very) diligent in her enquiries and however quickly my daughter and her vendor may have wanted this sale to be completed it is now in it's tenth week. A whole raft of enquiries were sent out by my son's solicitor to my daughter's solicitor about the property and even I was thinking "Why is she asking all these f**'ing questions?".

But when I gave them serious thought and took out the fact that he was buying off his sister then it wasn't difficult to see why these questions were being raised in the first place. The flat is in a new-ish (5 years old) housing estate and the roads are not being adopted by the local Council, hence future drainage and maintenance of roads was being questioned, why the roads weren't being adopted was also questioned (because they were built sub-standard? Or because they weren't built to approved planning permission maybe?), the flat is shared ownership and the Housing Association part has just changed hands so that future lease agreement was being questioned, she went though every part of the 50 page contract for the lease of the flat, she wanted copies of documentation for all sorts, etc etc.....

My daughter's solicitor was saying to my daughter that these questions were overly fussy and amateurish, whereas even though I wanted my son out of my house quickly I thought his lawyer was actually doing what she was being paid to do rather than cutting any corners.

The vendor's estate agent and my daughter's solicitor have been pressuring my daughter for several weeks now to try and get her to give my son a kick up the backside to shift the process along. I've been trying to keep out of it as they're both grown ups (25 & 28.) and I wanted them to sort this out themselves, but I wasn't happy that this pressure was being put on her as it wouldn't have been applied on my daughter if it wasn't for the fact that her buyer was her brother - and what did the solicitor think my son could do to influence and bypass the buying process - he ain't a lawyer.

Anyhoo, yesterday the seller of the house decided it had all taken far too long and has decided to pull out and remarket her house, leaving my daughter nowhere to buy. Ironically this is on the same day that I THINK that my son's lawyer may be satisfied that all her enquiries are completed and we can move to exchange and completion (he's trying to contact her this morning to confirm).

It may not be too late..... but if it is and the vendor doesn't want to deal with my daughter any more then I have a question on how to deal with these solicitors when they come asking for their fees

An email from my daughter's solicitor (from one of the Partners at the firm - so full signature block etc etc) she had last week states:

"Such a lack of progress is being made with your brother’s solicitors and such a lack of legal knowledge begins to make me think that you should seriously consider selling to someone else. This is incredibly rare but I really cannot see us being able to do business with these people."


Now if this chain has indeed broken up rather than just being estate agent bluff and bollocks and it all goes tits up (yet the solicitors still want there fees), how would you use this incriminating email? And is it incriminating?

The statement about 'a lack of legal knowledge' is certainly defamation of character I would have thought and questions her ability to be a solicitor dealing with conveyancing. 'These people' is also hardly a term that you'd think that her firm would be particularly happy about being referred to by another legal firm. It seems an unprofessional email to have been sent out and potentially opens this legal Partner up to some retaliatory action in my opinion. Do you think?

How to use this to my son's advantage though rather than the solicitor's advantage if they decide to have a squabble about 'Professional Standards' etc?

When my son's solicitor presents her invoice would you argue that you are unwilling to pay X% as you feel the service she has provided has contributed to the sale falling through, and you have a written statement from the vendor's solicitor (my daughter's) confirming this? (It shows your hand straight away)

Or would you use that email in a similar way (almost a blackmail) to my daughter's solicitor when he holds out his begging bowl for his fee and imply that the process has fallen apart because he didn't deal with the enquiries in a timely manner?

Or would you bypass the pair of them and ask for some sort of review by some legal ombudsman to ask why this sale may have fallen through and both of my kids might be out of pocket?

I have an emotional and financial attachment to this sale as I (Bank of Mum & Dad) have provided the 10% deposit my son is laying down to buy his sister's flat and I also want him to move out and start looking after himself.....

Any thoughts from someone who may be in the profession or have had similar dealings?

Sorry for the long blurb above.
 
It's not remotely defamatory. Defence is that it is an "honestly held belief".

Your son's solicitor owes no duty to your daughter or her agents (solicitor and estate agent), and acts solely for your son. The solicitor appears to have been rigorous.

I would suggest that your daughter's solicitor is at fault insofar as their role is to act as agent for your daughter, and in that capacity to liaise with your son's solicitor to reach settlement. Their letter to her is both ill-considered (lacks detail) and poorly worded.

Advice, FWIW, is to contact the vendor directly, explain the situation and inform them that you are ready to proceed. Before you do, however, make sure that the bank is ready to progress to completion.
 
I'd never find fault with any solicitor for being overly-rigorous in a property deal!

The circumstances of your daughter's property are complex and could be full of pitfalls or unforeseen expenses or liabilities. Some of the modern property leasehold/association set-ups are a complex nightmare - look how many buyers end up with issues with neighbours, landlords, councils, etc.

Your son's solicitor might have gone through things in a very prescriptive and belt-and-braces way (quite possibly through cautious inexperience, if its a young solicitor), but that has at least ensured his safety. Ten weeks to dig out the facts behind some of the above-mentioned issues sounds quite normal, especially if any of this occurred over the holiday periods.

(A hedge on my boundary turns out to be a remnant of an ancient village green - and these are enshrined in some Act of Parliament or other. It took my top-notch solicitor three months to nail down the status of the this fragment - the council, land registry, vendor, vendor's solicitors, all eventually proved to be in error. You cannot be too careful with property...).


As Banker says, just get on the phone to all parties and let them know the transaction is ready to proceed. If the vendor is being snotty, point out that it'll probably take the next prospective buyer another ten weeks to do their checks!
 
My kid's house sale saga continues... while the lawyers are still bickering over various search questions (you'd think they were divorce lawyers the way they are behaving, rather than helping to smooth the legal wheels on a house purchase) what has just this instant pop up on my screen is the house my daughter is looking to buy, which is 'Sold STC' with offer accepted. It's being advertised on Zoopla as a rental 'available immediately'. Can someone advertise a property for sale, accept an offer, then advertise same property as a rental? The vendor is probably pissed that the house sale is taking around ten weeks so far and so has chanced on getting some tenants in. My daughter is obviously not going to be wanting to take on a property where she now has tenants in and wait for them to end a contract before they move out... It's all going a bit tits up...
 
You said sold STC, meaning there is no contract, your daughter has no propriety rights over the land or any structures built on it.

The current freeholder can do what they wish with the property.
 
I think your son's solicitor has been acting diligently and doing what she is paid for. 10 to 12 weeks is unfortunately usual and your daughter's solicitor would probably take just as long if they were in the same position and they have a duty to act for your dauhter which means help not harass. I would be more concerned if she pushed it all through without advising your son about the roads not being adopted and the quality of the building. That would put your son at risk and also the solicitor would be failing in her due diligence. She may be overworked with a lot on though. The vendor of the house your daughter wants is protecting her interest but being pissy. Due diligence enquiries may be a pain but can unearth all sorts that your son has to consider for the future - like the possible deterioration of the road affecting re-sale value.
(Also.....how much did your daughter know and not divulge early on as she was looking out for her own interest.....???)
 
I think your son's solicitor has been acting diligently and doing what she is paid for. 10 to 12 weeks is unfortunately usual and your daughter's solicitor would probably take just as long if they were in the same position and they have a duty to act for your dauhter which means help not harass. I would be more concerned if she pushed it all through without advising your son about the roads not being adopted and the quality of the building. That would put your son at risk and also the solicitor would be failing in her due diligence. She may be overworked with a lot on though. The vendor of the house your daughter wants is protecting her interest but being pissy. Due diligence enquiries may be a pain but can unearth all sorts that your son has to consider for the future - like the possible deterioration of the road affecting re-sale value.
(Also.....how much did your daughter know and not divulge early on as she was looking out for her own interest.....???)

In other words, the OP is being a bit of an impatient drama queen and there may be more to this than all parties are divulging ?......thought so.
 
....and also, your sons solicitor is dealing with a housing association that has changed hands... That housing association will be working on their due diligence that the transaction will be safe.. there are three parties involved not two. Your daughters solicitors are being ... 'unhelpful' ...in their comments but you have little recourse against either party.
 
A common reason why a vendor might try to chivvy a purchaser (assuming that purchaser is confirmed to be in funds and thus in a position to buy in due course) is, of course, that they are anxious that "something" gets overlooked in the resulting haste....

Perhaps a good time to pay extra for that detailed survey, or canvas the neighbours to see if anyone knows of any "issues"?
 
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