Solicitors What Are My Rights ?

[milanbenes]

notwithstanding Mrs Goof's goofy comments,

perhaps the lesson from all of this is to be only a freeholder
and not a leaseholder

doh

Milan.

[Dundeegeorge]

A point

Yes I agree, but all my freeholder has to do is sign the form to say yes I can sell the flat, there is no financial gain for him at all apart from the £500 I paid. The only reason my freeholder would do this in my opionion is to make the sale fall through so he can charge me another £500. He is totally screwing me and the law seems to allow him to do that !!!!!!

Why would you be paying him £500 if there's no sale?

[ALM]

Why would you be paying him £500 if there's no sale?

Yes. Why!!??

[Ivor1]

Yes why in deed I asked the same question, but the freeholder has the right to ask for what he wants. He would only issue the liciense on these conditions. My solicitor said it was not on, but what choice do I have, the only cause of action I would of had was take him to a lease holders tribunal and then even if I win I would have to pay all costs, and still have to go to court to inforce the tribunal findings.

I bought lease hold as at the time I couldnt afford a house. I thought my freeholder would be a reasonable man, but it turns out he is well know locally as a ******* ar*e hole who needs a couple of good doses of my fists in his face

I just want it to go through then I will deal with him

[ASB]

notwithstanding Mrs Goof's goofy comments,

perhaps the lesson from all of this is to be only a freeholder
and not a leaseholder

doh

Milan.

Possibly. Apart from the fact that it is damn near impossible to arrange a mortgage on a freehold flat in England or Wales. This is because it is poor security for the lender because if the flats are freehold it is impossible to force any repairs etc that are required to be done. The leashold reform act has improved things, this introduces commonhold. It was also usual for the leaseholders to buy the freehold and set up a management company that they all owned one share in.


i.e. flats are generally leasehold for a very good reason. Some leases are crap though as the op is discovering.

[Spartacus]

Apperently I have 'NO' right to expect my freeholders solicitor to reply WTF !

Naturally enough. Who's paying his fees? Not you, that's for sure. In fact if I were the freeholder I'd be hopping mad if my solicitor did anything other than show you the door. Client confidentiality and all that. Your beef is with the freeholder, not his solicitor.

[Spartacus]

Yes why in deed I asked the same question, but the freeholder has the right to ask for what he wants.

Surely not? In which case what's to stop him from asking for £5,000 or £50,000?

[Fungus]

I would have thought that your solicitor should sent a letter to the other solicitor stating that if the sale falls through because the other party does not return the letter within a reasonable time, and without a reasonable explanation that can be proved, then you will take legal action against the other party.

The other solicitor expects to deal with your solicitor, as you have engaged him to act on your behalf.

It seems to be an open and shut case of the leaseholder extorting money from you and there's nothing to stop him doing it again in future. It could of course just be incompetence or laziness. Which is why your solicitor must press the other solicitor. I think you have to show that you gave ample reminder.

The problem here, as I found when selling my late mother's property, is that the law is rather weak on such matters. The tulipe head knows that taking him to court will cost you a fortune, and you might lose. Hence in a sense he has you by the balls. My late mother's neighbours came round a few days after the funeral saying "Give us some land or you will not be able to sell the house due to a dispute".

[Fungus]

A friend had a run in woth a soliciter, he tried the law society.

After the law society doing SFA except telling him to take legal action against the soliciter was that they are just an old boys club looking after their own.

Good luck

Law is a monopoly with goodness knows how much protectionism build-in. The whole edifice is built to provide an income for lawyers. The government surprisingly are trying to liberalise the market, and on the Today programme on R4 someone from the Law Society was talking about the need to protect consumers. My experience of solicitors is that they look after their own interests first, and milk us. We need protection from them.

A friend is paying £50,000+ fees to a solicitor for winding up an estate. I explained that he could have done most of the work himself. The solicitor charges £180 per hour for trivial work + 1% of the estate's value. The solicitor did not explain that he could do most of the work. My solicitor who dealt with my late mother's estate was very good, but it was still very basic work for £200 per hour. The only reason to use a third party was to protect me from allegations of fraud from my unleasant half brother and sister.

[Ivor1]

Naturally enough. Who's paying his fees? Not you, that's for sure. In fact if I were the freeholder I'd be hopping mad if my solicitor did anything other than show you the door. Client confidentiality and all that. Your beef is with the freeholder, not his solicitor.

Actually a requirement of my freeholder was 'I pay all his costs for regarding the liciense'. I didnt realise it would be such an issues, pretty sure its all going to fall through now both sale and purchase, leaving me near on £3k out of pocket after legal fees, surveys not to mention my own time. The freeholder has had since the 10th May to sign and return it, he must be doing it on purpose. I actually managed to talk to him late last night, he told me 'its been posted back but I dont know when that was'
What a *****, was so desperate told him my partner was 8 months pregnant and I was scared all this stress would put her into an early labour, what a *****. Once sorted Im tempted to suggest to the IR his tax affairs may not be in order