Conveyancing Negligence Claim Against Solicitors

When you get the keys to the new property you have bought, it should be a happy occasion. Unfortunately, for some buyers this is not the case, if their conveyancing solicitor has not dealt with a transaction properly. They might know there are issues straight away, or in some cases they might not discover the problems until much later. No matter when they became aware of the problems, conveyancing mistakes can be costly and time consuming to put right. 

At the end of last year, a professional negligence claim involving a conveyancing transaction was decided against a firm of solicitors in Kent.

The case was an unusual one. The Claimant alleged that the solicitors firm failed to register the transfer of a property to her. There are strict and short time limits in which solicitors have to ensure that the change in ownership of a property is registered with the Land Registry. 

The firm of solicitors who had negligently failed to register the property transfer, argued in court that because it had later transpired that the Claimant was committing mortgage fraud, and they should not be able to bring a claim for compensation. 

The case went all the way to the Court of Appeal, who decided that the firm had been negligent and ordered that the firm should pay damages to the Claimant. 

On the face of it, this looks like a surprising decision. The court was convinced that the Claimant had committed mortgage fraud and therefore it seems unfair that the law firm should have to pay damages to her. However, the judge was careful to point out that this was a point of wider public interest. Lady Justice Gloster said that negligent conveyancing solicitors should be not allowed to avoid their responsibilities, just because clients were acting in a fraudulent manner towards their mortgage company. 

Samuels Solicitors LLP has a long history of assisting clients bring professional negligence claims against solicitors and other professionals, such as tax advisors, accountants and surveyors. 

Unfortunately, conveyancing is one of the areas where professional negligence regularly occurs and dealing with negligent conveyancers is one of our particular specialisms. 

If you want to claim compensation from a negligent professional, contact us today for a free initial discussion about how we can help.