


(113 Posts)
Mightbemiddleaged Thu 10-Oct-13 17:42:34





I actually hate and despise these people the lazy heartless bastards sad

ILoveTomHardy Thu 10-Oct-13 17:53:29

What small legal issue?

TwoAndTwoEqualsChaos Thu 10-Oct-13 17:59:26

Is there not redress through The Law Society?

Mightbemiddleaged Thu 10-Oct-13 18:01:43

Ilove the boundary of our drive was shown incorrectly and was picked up by the buyers own solicitor. We a on very good terms with the neighbours who were also affected and they agreed to 'help' us rectify the issue. They instructed solicitors ( with the agreement that we would cove costs, which have been held on account now for 4 months!) it's just that neither their or our solicitor have really done anything to actually get the issue resolved legally. It's all so pointless, to have gone through all this for absolutely nothing [sobs]

FreeWee Thu 10-Oct-13 18:02:51

It's their job; it's your life. You'll always care about your life than they do about their job. I often end up doing people's jobs for them when they seem to be not giving a shit (remortgage, insurance claim on house, recruiting for my maternity cover) but it sounds like it will be too late for you to try and do that. All I'd advise next time is chase chase chase. Don't care about being annoying! So sorry to hear this is taking its toll on you. Hope whatever happens next is for the best thanks

ILoveTomHardy Thu 10-Oct-13 18:04:19

Sounds pretty straight forward if both parties are in agreement to a rectification of the titles. I would phone your solicitor and say if they can't explain what has caused the delay to your satisfaction you will complain to the SRA.

Mightbemiddleaged Thu 10-Oct-13 18:05:35

Hi Free

Thanks for your kind words, I appreciate them today.

Both myself and DP are professionals and I am not ashamed of saying we pride ourselves on going the extra mile for the people we are paid to help.

If either of us sat for four months on anything we would be sacked, simple as that. sad

TiredFeet Thu 10-Oct-13 18:06:40

Gutted for you. Its hard to know from what you've said if they've definitely been rubbish but it doesn't sound good that it has taken so long. You can complain using their complaints procedure and then also there is the Law Society, but I realise that won't get you the house back.

YouAreMyFavouriteWasteOfTime Thu 10-Oct-13 18:19:47


do you have any idea why that might be? surely they want to do the work and get paid?
what is the last thing they told you?

Mightbemiddleaged Thu 10-Oct-13 18:23:04

You are, our neighbours solicitor were told the payment was being held on account 3.5 months ago. Despite this he did nothing and then when he was cased twice further down the line he queried the payment x2. He then st on it all for six full weeks lifting not a finger. Now it has apparently gone to neighbours mortgage lender ( that a month ago) but he is simply not responding to requests for updates!!

LessMissAbs Thu 10-Oct-13 18:23:26

I'm not a conveyance, but title problems can sometimes be unresolvable. Was a mortgage required on the property? Were you asked about taking an insurance policy out against the disputed boundary? I believe you would have had to re-register both your and your neighbour's properties with the Land Register, and obtain your mortgage lender's consent.

However, if your solicitor simply refused to respond to calls and letters, then this is a ground for complaint, firstly to the Managing Partner of the firm involved, and if no resolution, to the Legal Ombudsman.

LessMissAbs Thu 10-Oct-13 18:24:32

convenyancer I'm clearly not much of a typist either!

ithaka Thu 10-Oct-13 18:31:30

OP - I feel your pain. Solicitors just do not seem the have the same standards as other fee charging professionals.

My lovely dad died over 6 months ago. Straightforward, current will. No issues, you would think. Big mistake, he made his local firm of solicitors his executors, so it is still not resolved. My sister phoned the other day to find out what was taking so long (she is broke and really needs her inheritance before the winter). Solicitor sounds surprised - 'oh, it is straightforward and all done. It just needs half an hour of my time and I am far too busy at the moment to do it'. What other profession can get away with that?

Legal bods - is there any point us complaining? Who would we complain too?

Alisvolatpropiis Thu 10-Oct-13 18:39:44


The SRA wokld be a good bet for you, as it's a service level issue rather than negligence. The firm should also have a compliantly procedure in place. There's also the option of seeking advice from the Legal Ombudsman (an impartial body not a person)

MrsHoratioNelson Thu 10-Oct-13 18:44:17

ithaka I really object to your comment. Some solicitors are crap, just like there are crap accountants, doctors and checkout assistants.

To the point in hand, if it is the OP's solicitor who is holding things up, complain to the managing partner or whoever deals with complaints. This person will be identified in the client care letter sent to you at the outset of the matter.

If it is the neighbour a solicitor there's not much the OP can do except ask the neighbour to chase or ask her solicitor to chase.

It's possible that the hold up is not actually either solicitor's fault - for example the Land Registry might be delaying matters, but in those circumstances the solicitors should be chasing and keeping you updated.

If it is the solicitor's fault and OP is not satisfied with outcome of complaint to managing partner, contact the solicitors' regulation authority.

ithaka Thu 10-Oct-13 18:44:59

Thank - I have just googled SRA & it looks like it is just for England & Wales - is there a Scottish equivalent?

YouAreMyFavouriteWasteOfTime Thu 10-Oct-13 18:49:30

ithaka could you write to the solicitor and say if they are unable to progress matter you will seek an alternative law firm.

ithaka Thu 10-Oct-13 18:55:35

I am afraid they will still charge a fortune, though, claiming they have already done stuff. Plus, as my dad put them as his executors, can I even do that? It so annoying, my dear old dad wanted to make everything as easy as possible for me & my sis, he wanted to look after us. These sharks are feeding off his estate when we are all really vulnerable - they seem to have no sense of a duty of care.

Alisvolatpropiis Thu 10-Oct-13 18:55:42


I think it's the Law Society of Scotland but not 100% sorry

LessMissAbs Thu 10-Oct-13 18:59:16

Its the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission. But you will be expected to have put your complaint to the firm's managing partner first. Is there any more detail you can give about whether you or the neighbour required the consent of your lenders to re-register the changed boundaries of your properties with the Land Register? Was it suggested that you take out an insurance policy and create a good, new title for the new boundary in the sale?

The thing is, I suspect a lot of solicitors wouldn't want to get involved in conveyancing for a property with a boundary dispute. It can be a minefield, and take years to sort out, even with all parties in agreement. The better thing to do would have been to sort out the title of your property before putting it on the market/selling it.

YouAreMyFavouriteWasteOfTime Thu 10-Oct-13 18:59:58

ithaka it was more of a threat than something you want to action....

I don't know the effect of one of them being named as an executor - I am a client of lawyers not a lawyer.

do you know what the costs are at the moment? did they estimate the costs for you at the start?

GiveItYourBestShot Thu 10-Oct-13 20:59:25

I don't get it either. The people I was buying my house from actually moved out because they were worried about losing their new house. My solicitor didn't even know. He just dragged and dragged his feet. I'd been paying for storage while "my" house was empty. I'm sorry you've lost your dream house.

Glittertwins Thu 10-Oct-13 21:01:42

This is depressing seeing that some attitudes have not improved in 10 years. We had similar problems with our solicitor wrt additional searches being needed. He didn't bother putting the request in, I ended up chasing and chasing this and the company doing the work turned it around bloody quickly. The vendors kept threatening to pull out but the estate agents persuaded them not to go back to square one as they knew we had sold.

The grubby little shite didn't give a monkeys when I asked him for updates nor when I said we could lose the property if these searches weren't done.

I never did get round to putting in a complaint about him as things were also going highly pear-shaped at work at the time. If we ever move again, I will use a local independent, not go down the chain we got talked into using.

Chunderella Thu 10-Oct-13 21:19:26

Bollocks ithaka. I am sorry for what you've been through, and would encourage you to complain, but you don't get to make bullshit generalisations about hundreds of thousands of people because of your one experience.

Alibabaandthe40nappies Thu 10-Oct-13 21:27:16

Chunderella that is harsh. There are enough people who experience these problems to make it pretty acceptable to say that the legal profession doesn't always look after small clients very well. The bottom line is that many firms don't care enough, and provided they can bill enough time they couldn't care less.

We've experienced awful problems with conveyancing (with two separate firms) and with probate. I don't know a single person who has moved house who hasn't got some gripe with their solicitor because they have failed to request information in a timely manner, or they have sat on funds when they should have released them or some other issue. It is disgraceful.

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