Some advice please- House move beyond stressful and it appears our solicitor is dodgy as F**k

[tiredemma]

I am about to shatter into a thousand tiny pieces.

In brief- sold our house in september- currently renting the same house off the people who brought it from us.

Still waiting for a completion date to move into new house- it has all been a very long drawn out stressful affair so fair.

Anyway- DP rings our solicitor last week for an update - it appears that the man who was dealing with our conveyencing has 'left'. Another member of the 'firm' looked through our file and has discovered the following

• we have paid no rent on this house for the last three months (despite the original solicitor saying he had forwarded the funds from the money that he is holding for us)
  
• there appears to be no tenancy agreement on file (despite me signing one and faxing it back the same day- back in beg oct)
  
  
• There is a 'contract' that has mine and Dp's signatures on (alledgedly)- this contract states that we agree to pay an 'arrangement' fee to some firm of £2050 (which just happens to be the same amount as stamp duty).
  Dp contacted the financial adviser who recommended the solicitors and he has alluded to the original solicitor 'possibly not paying the stamp duty and transferring that money into another acct' (for his own gain??- i suspect that the financial adviser is also in on it)
  
  i dont know what to do. is this something quite normal (but dodgy) within this industry???
  
  what do we do next?????

[WestVirginia]

Ask for a meeting with a senior partner of the solicitors.

[TotalChaos]

this sounds dodgy as hell, there are very strict rules about what sols can do with money that's sitting in their client account (i.e. your sale proceeds) so I would start writing all contact with sols down from now on, possibly even write to them confirming contents of telephone conversation. you might also consider contacting the solicitors regulation authority www.sra.org.uk/contact-us/

also check with your "landlords" - have they received any rent or was the person you spoke to correct.

[BigGitDad]

There is a complaints precedure that you can go through if you want to make a compaint. The solicitors should tell you who to go through. If not I am sure someone here will.
As for the Mortgage Brokers conduct you can also make a complaint direct to him them and they have set procedures to follow. If they do notthey are at risk of being struck off. I would see what the solicitors say first though.

[tiredemma]

Hi all. Thanks for replying. Didnt sleep at all last night.

Senior partner is firm has been liaising with Dp throughout the day. Has confirmed that there has been some 'unethical' practice going on and our original solicitor has been sacked.

Unfortunately they ae now having to go through all of the documents/contracts relating to both the sale of our old house and the purchase of the new house to ensure that there are no further 'discrepencies' that could cause potential problems in the future.

Im beyond stressed. Beyond it.

[tiredemma]

forgot to add. This now creates another delay on an already long-drawn out, horrendous period.

Feel like we will never get into our new home

[scurryfunge]

Make sure the solicitors do not charge you for their work or reduce their fees significantly.

[tiredemma]

do you know, I hadn't even considered that. Will ensure we discuss that with them.

Thannks

[SpawnChorus]

God that all sounds dreadful! I really feel for you.

[tiredemma]

My God. It gets better. This is like some bloody storyline from a soap opera.

Cooking tea for kids- there is a knock at the door. Its the woman who now owns this house (our 'old' house). very worried- her solicitor has been trying to make contact with our solicitor for weeks- she has been in india for two months and has returned to find no rent paid, her solicitor suggested she come to the house. Fucking great- how embarrasing.

[AvengingGerbil]

Sounds like you need a new firm of solicitors to sue the previous firm for professional negligence. Just because they've sacked the incompetent/crooked one does not let the rest of the firm off the hook.

[WestVirginia]

Make a formal complaint to the current solicitors in the first instance.

[ElsieMc]

Solicitors can be struck off for this and charged with the criminal offence of fraud. You have to consider this, because effectively you are relying on the firm to investigate itself in this matter and there is obviously going to be a degree of self-interest and self-preservation involved.

If he has (allegedly) been misappropriating client account money then this is very serious. I worked for a firm of solicitors and it was an offence punishable by death to mess up regarding client account (the client's money) and office account (the firm's). The rule was when in doubt, always client account.

You need to speak to an outside body ie another firm to protect your interests, the regulatory body or even the police if you are not happy with the way the senior partner at the firm is dealing with matters. You need to set the pace and agenda, not them.

You need to give them a time frame in which to come back to you with clear answers. Make an appointment.

[lalalonglegs]

So the firm knew this guy was a crook and sacked him but didn't bother to check back through recent and current cases he was handling to check for any dodgy accounting? That is shocking and a complete dereliction of duty.

[Batteryhuman]

You employed the firm of solicitors not the individual and that firm will have professional indemnity insurance. As others have said money in client account is your money not theirs. They are responsible for any losses, damages and costs you incur as a result of what smaell very dodgy indeed. I would ask for an emergency face to face meeting with the senior partner and demand to see the ledger for your sale file and all susequent work so that you can see what payments have been in and out.

You should not be charged for this.

The point re stamp duty is odd as you don't pay stamp duty land tax until after completion of a purchase. There is none to pay on sale.

[Resolution]

You should make a written complaint. Give them a deadline of 7 days to report to you what has gone on and how they plan to remedy it (and compensate you).

If they don't report to your satisfaction you can report the firm to the SRA (www.sra.org). You must however have used the firm's complaints procedure first. As you are alleging financial misconduct speak to the SRA first anyway.

[tiredemma]

thanks for all of your replies.

I am so pissed off with the attitude of the Solicitors, I really want to start making an official complaint- its outrageous that I am reluctant to do so because I am worried about it delaying the purchase of my (lovely) new home even more.

We received some paperwork yesterday from them and the first sentence made me incandescent with rage "Further to previous correspendence and numerous phonecalls...." !!!! we have every bloody right to make phonecalls to them- We are their customers!!

They seem to be shirking around these two massive issues-

1. The sacked solicitor has quite clearly forged by mine and Dp's signatures onto a contract that states we will pay £2350 to some company that we have never heard of.
   

1. The sacked solicitor has failed to forward the signed tenancy agreement and £1650 rent to our current landlords (which resulted in them turning up on the doorstep)
   

They seem to be affronted that we have the audacity to ask questions about what the bloody hell is going on.

We just dont know what to do next- we are so worried about them fucking up the purchase of the new house.

Should we continue with this and then make an official complaint once we have the keys in our hands?

It is a fuck up isnt it? I am not over-reacting?

[AvengingGerbil]

Emma, I think you should contact the Solicitors' Regulation Authority as soon as possible.

SRA website on how to report solicitors is here. I know it recommends going to the legal ombudsman, but there is scope for direct reporting (there is a phone no and form link towards the middle of the page). Forgery of your signatures and misuse of funds is fraud and you are clearly getting nowhere through the firm.

[mamas12]

oh my goodness
Weel if that firm of solicitors are not bending over backwrds to help you then you deo need to contact the Regulation Authority and I would phone the police and have a chat regarding where the old sol. is and what exactly is happening with him.
Is he not being brought to book?
Are you able to move into another orioerty for now (all on the firms money) so that your house owner is alright with you?

[DuchessOfAvon]

I do think you need to alert the Legal Ombudsman. We used the predecessor organisation to put some pressure on a firm of solicitors that screwed up our house purchase and compromised its eventual sale.

It served to focus their minds on resolving the issue - and stumped up compensation too.

[tiredemma]

I have written a letter. I would appreciate if someone could 'proof read' it for me.

[shelscrape]

tiredemma - you MUST make an immediate complaint to 1. the solicitors firm complaisnt partner and 2. copy it to the SRA.

You are right, this is way dodgy. I know you want to get in your new house, but if they've done this to you, they must have done it to others. It can't be allowed to happen to anyone else