Stephen Ward, from the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) looks at some common reasons for conveyancing complaints and where consumers can turn to for help if things don’t quite go to plan
Purchasing a property is often mentioned as one of the most stressful life events a person faces. Sitting alongside such life-changing events as death and divorce it’s no wonder that emotions run high.
The process can often seem complicated, it involves large sums of money, and the time taken can seem to stretch out – this can set the stage for fraught conversations with your conveyancer.
The good news is the very great majority of purchases do conclude smoothly to the satisfaction of all parties involved, and it is rare that things go wrong. But if it does who do you turn to?
If you think that something might be going wrong speak to your conveyancer. And don’t wait until you feel things have gone irretrievably wrong – speak up early and it is nearly always possible to resolve the issue between you.
What’s the issue?
Complaints tend to fall into one of four broad areas, namely:
- Communication
- Advice
- Behaviour
- Legal costs
Not communicating about delays and poor communication in general is a common area of complaint that leads to the feeling that no one is progressing your matter. It’s certainly true to say that good communication goes a long way and can avert most complaints, so we encourage our practices to do this.
What should I do if I need to complain?
If you have a complaint the very first thing to do is to speak to your conveyancer to explain what’s worrying you and try and resolve the issue. Make clear that you are raising a complaint so that the firm treats it correctly.
If speaking to the conveyancer does not resolve your concerns, set those concerns out in writing, head the letter or email ‘Complaint’ and ask for confirmation that it has been received.
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of that complaint, what you do depends on the nature of the complaint.
If your complaint is related to the service you have received (e.g. delay or the costs charged are more than you expected), you should complain to the Legal Ombudsman. They have the power to award you compensation which your conveyancer must pay to you.
If you believe the firm has made a mistake or there is a dispute about the quality of the work they have provided, you should make this to the practice. You may at this stage also wish to get advice about your complaint from another firm of lawyers, a law centre or Citizens Advice about the nature of your case.
All CLC practices, as a condition of being licensed, have in place professional indemnity insurance. Most of these disputes are quickly resolved at this stage by the parties.
If your complaint is related to the conveyancers’ professional conduct, you should contact the lawyer’s regulator directly (the Legal Ombudsman will pass onto the regulator any conduct complaint they receive), and if it is conveyancing related this will most likely be either be to the CLC or the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
The sorts of things that might be a conduct complaint include:
- Dishonesty
- Deliberately overcharging clients
- Mismanaging client money
- Being convicted of a criminal offence
- Treating a client unfairly because of age, disability, gender, race, sexuality or other protected characteristic
CLC practices are required to make their complaints processes clear and to try to resolve any complaints they receive as quickly as possible.
As a consumer, the most important thing to remember is not to suffer in silence. If you are unfortunate enough to need to complain, your conveyancer should be able to resolve the situation. If not, be reassured that you can refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman and if necessary the CLC.
Hi, I am selling a flat, I got a Conveyancing solicitor, I paid all the invoices. the buyer solicitor requested a series of documents. Some of them need to be provided by my residential management company. My management company did send a couple but not all. I did contact the management and he replied do not contact me. I asked my solicitor and he replied, nothing he can do. it is 3 months now. my solicitor simply telling me, it is your problem.
What should I do? he did email the management company and that is all. If he cannot do, so who can?
You could try taking the case to the Property Ombudsman (but not sure if they cover managing agents) or National Trading Standards.
Hi have purchased a property that has solar panels. We expressed a concern prior to the purchase being finalised that we were enquired about information about the solar panels and how they worked etc . We were reassured by our solicitor that this would be given on completion, however this has not happened. We asked the seller and they told us they sent the information via their solicitor.
Where do we stand as we have moved in, but are unable to work out how to use the solar panels
Sorry to hear this. You will need to follow up with your conveyancer – it’s a good idea to do this in writing so there’s a paper trail. If you don’t receive a satisfactory answer, you could then escalate it to the head of the firm and then the Legal Ombudsman.
Hello,
My solicitor didn’t manage to register my property at the Land Register because the other solicitor doesn’t respond. They said that they will make a complain against the other solicitor but they didn’t. I contacted them and I am still waiting for an answer. What shall i do? Thank you
I purchased a property 3yrs ago and believed the garden was included. The solicitors I used did not highlight to me after reviewing the title plan that the garden may not belong to the property and investigate with the land registry. I have now just lost my house sale as the buyers solicitor raised a concern with the garden ownership and the buyers panicked and pulled out. I have contacted the solicitors whom did my purchase and they state its my own fault if I didn’t query if the garden belonged to the property and refuse to resolve the matter with the land registry free of charge so I can sell my house again. I was always under the impression if a house is advertised for sale with a garden, then it naturally belongs to the house. I feel they are the experts in these matters, but are shrugging any responsibility, I’m confused why we bother to use experts if they don’t take responsibility?