How to deal with a solicitor who has a bad attitude?

[BartyBoy]

Hi all!

I have posted a thread here asking for some legal advice on a new build property before. The reason why I came here for help rather than going to my own solicitor is because my solicitor has a very bad attitude. In fact, it has come to the point that I also need some help here about how to deal with a solicitor who has such bad attitude.

My partner contacted this solicitor a couple of weeks ago to express our concerns of some issues on the new property. Neither of us have received a response from the solicitor. So I decided to contact the solicitor to chase for a reply on Monday (18 May), still no reply. I then sent another email which CCed two other people in her office to chase for a reply this morning. And now, the solicitor has replied but asked me to phone her after 1pm. I am sorry but have I missed something here?

I just found this solicitor is not up to the standard at all in terms of customer service. We had to contact her several times then had to chase for a reply. Furthermore, instead of saying she will phone me to discuss the matter, she asked me to phone her!!??

Any suggestions and advice on how to deal with this solicitor are very much appreciated!

Thank you

[stevemLS]

Re: How to deal with a solicitor who has a bad attitude?

Change solicitor and submit a written complaint to the senior partner in the current solicitors firm.

If not content with response, complain to the Legal Ombudsman.

[nemesis45]

Re: How to deal with a solicitor who has a bad attitude?

Hi,

A Formal Complaint to the law practice head is the starting point normally.

Is this solicitor are partner in a practice, or an employee of a firm?

nem

[BartyBoy]

Re: How to deal with a solicitor who has a bad attitude?

Hi, thank you both for the message and advice.

Just phoned this 'wicked' solicitor at lunchtime, the conversation was complete waste of time. The advice that I was given is 'ask for discount', or 'walk away'. Well, that has not answered my initial question at all.

As far as I know, this solicitor is an employee of the firm, I am just so annoyed and furious with her attitude here.

Besides, does any of you know a good and reliable solicitor who I can hire for a purchase of a new build property please? I am based in Worcestershire so I would prefer a local one, but I am happy to hire someone good and not local.

Many thanks again!

[stevemLS]

Re: How to deal with a solicitor who has a bad attitude?

Sorry but the only property specialists I know deal only with commercial property. I'm in Yorkshire in any event.

If you go on the law society website you can search by geography and specialism, look for firms that are members of the various quality and accreditation schemes. These, http://www.scaiff.co.uk/conveyancing.htm, for example (not a recommendation just a google) are members both of the Lexcel quality scheme and the Law Society conveyancing accreditation scheme.

You can also look up the firm that are currently acting for you and should be able to find whether the wicked solicitor is a partner or associate, although in practical terms I don't think that makes any difference.

[BartyBoy]

Re: How to deal with a solicitor who has a bad attitude?

Found this wicked solicitor on the law society website, she is labelled as 'solicitor | admitted as a solicitor 01/02/02'.

In terms of the accreditations, her firm has got '3 total accreditations' and 'relevant accreditations', not sure what these mean, and whether they are any good to me...

To change solicitor, will it be a straightforward process as this wicked solicitor was hired by me a month ago and so far I have paid her £300 out of a £3161.90 quotation?

[stevemLS]

Re: How to deal with a solicitor who has a bad attitude?

Was that a total estimate include disbursements?

What is the purchase price of the property? It sounds a bit steep unless it is including stamp duty, search fees etc etc.

Personal recommendation is by far the best way of finding a decent solicitor, do you have any mates that have bought recently? TBH unless you have a really strong preference for doing things face to face, geographical location is really immaterial these days. I think I used someone in Chester to buy property in Leeds, on the back of a recommendation.

You could also consider using a Licenced Conveyancer, these are legal professionals who deal only with conveyancing and I know people who have good experiences of them.

Sorry I can't be much more use.

[wales01man]

Re: How to deal with a solicitor who has a bad attitude?

Is this purchase or for problems found after purchasing the property

[BartyBoy]

Re: How to deal with a solicitor who has a bad attitude?

Was that a total estimate include disbursements? What is the purchase price of the property? It sounds a bit steep unless it is including stamp duty, search fees etc etc.

Funny enough, I managed to dig out an email this wicked solicitor sent me 7 weeks ago about her fees, I was going to put the fees here but then you have already asked the questions before I am doing it. Anyway here are her fees...

Purchase Price £211,995.00

Legal costs £400.00 + £80.00 VAT
Help to Buy Charge £150.00 + £30.00 VAT
Stamp Duty Land Tax £1,739.90
Land Registry Registration fee £270.00
Taylor Wimpey Engrossment Fee £210.00
Telegraphic Transfer legal fee £35.00 + £7.00 VAT
Land Registry Priority Search £3.00
Bankruptcy Search £4.00
Completion Monitor fee £15.00
Search Pack £201.60
Electronic Anti-Money Laundering Search Fee £7.20

SUB-TOTAL £3035.70 + £117.00 VAT
TOTAL ESTIMATE £3152.70

I am obviously not happy with her attitude and her poor service, I am definitely looking for another solicitor to complete the purchase/transaction for me.

From the letter sent to me by this wicked solicitor, there is a section called 'Our Bill'. She wrote, 'We will submit our bill towards the end of the transaction, when the amount due for our costs and disbursements will be due. However, if the transaction fails to proceed to completion, then we will charge a proportion of our overall fee based on the following table, plus VAT and any disbursements we have paid out on your behalf. In such case a bill for our fees will be sent to you for payment.'

The table she shows me is:
25% of fee charged - We have obtained details of your proposed purchase and perused the contract papers
50% of fee charged - We have obtained search results and raised additional enquiries
75% of fee charged - We have reported to you on the title to the property and obtained your signature on the contract in readiness for exchange

Now she talked about her 'overall fee', what does it mean by that? Is it the Total Estimate £3152.70? Or the £480.00 Legal costs?

Your advice is great by the way!

- - - Updated - - -

Is this purchase or for problems found after purchasing the property

The issue occurs after I made a reservation for an off plan property. I only paid £500 deposit to the builder and I haven't exchanged the contract yet, so I wouldn't say I have bought the property just yet...

[stevemLS]

Re: How to deal with a solicitor who has a bad attitude?

OK, so for her professional services you are actually only paying £400 + VAT.

The rest of it is sums that they pay out on your behalf and to the extent that they have already been spent, you will need to pay.

However, if you instruct a new solicitor the majority if not all the disbursements should simply transfer to the new firm.

It MAY cost you a little more but you might think that a price worth paying in order to have a solicitor/licensed conveyancer that you have confidence in. When you see the amount of the actual fee compared with the total bill, you can see why any increased costs should be small.

Are you under any time pressure to get the transaction completed? If you are that might limit your wiggle room a bit.

You need to bang in your letter of complaint as soon as you can. Briefly and objectively detail the matters for complaint, confirm that you intend to/actually withdraw your instructions and your new solicitor is X/to be confirmed.

Depending how hard you want to play it, you could say that you refuse to pay for a service which has not been delivered with reasonable professional skill and care.

Depending how big the firm is, you may avoid delay and additional expense if you set out your complaint as above and insist that your file is transferred to a different fee earner.

Residential conveyancing is usually a pretty straightforward "tick box" exercise. Are you selling as well or is it a straightforward FTB (I should say I know absolutely nothing about help to buy and have no idea whether that element complicates matters, I should also say my knowledge of conveyancing is from land law lectures 20-odd years ago!!)

Let us know how you go on and good luck.

[BartyBoy]

Re: How to deal with a solicitor who has a bad attitude?

Great advice, thank you so much! I shall work on the complaint letter tomorrow.

Regarding this firm, these people do have different branches in the UK, hiring 40 staff, 6 of them are solicitors according to the law society website.

Taylor Wimpey hasn't chased yet as I am still waiting for them to offer me someething for the six manholes that I wasn't informed when I reserved the plot.

I will let you know how things go here. Not wishing my experience happens to anyone, but if it does happen to someone, at least they learn what to do from my story...

Many thanks!

[Amethyst]

Re: How to deal with a solicitor who has a bad attitude?

And now, the solicitor has replied but asked me to phone her after 1pm.

Did you give her a call after 1 yesterday ? and if so did she help resolve any of the issues ?

Taylor Wimpey hasn't chased yet as I am still waiting for them to offer me someething for the six manholes that I wasn't informed when I reserved the plot.

Six manholes in one plot ??? And you're still going ahead with the purchase ?

[BartyBoy]

Re: How to deal with a solicitor who has a bad attitude?

Did you give her a call after 1 yesterday ? and if so did she help resolve any of the issues ?
Six manholes in one plot ??? And you're still going ahead with the purchase ?

I did phone the solicitor just after 1pm yesterday. Straight away I could tell she was not interested in my case. My partner already told her the multi manholes issue over a week ago, but yesterday she thought I was having issues with just 1 manhole. Then she told me to walk away if I had issues with the manholes, so I explained I really wanted this property (cost wise, location wise, etc.), then she told me to ask for discount then. I was very tempted to tell her that was exactly what other people advised me on the internet, so really what is the point to hire her?

My initial question to her was, the builders have not followed the drawing plan to install the manholes, 3 of the 6 manholes are installed in wherever the builders fancied, what legal rights do I have here? Can I go back to the builders to say they must re-install the manholes to where they are shown on the plan?

[nemesis45]

Re: How to deal with a solicitor who has a bad attitude?

You could get the LA Building Control Officer to take a look at these manholes, it sounds
to me that the whole drainage system may be overloaded when in use.

nem

[BartyBoy]

Re: How to deal with a solicitor who has a bad attitude?

You could get the LA Building Control Officer to take a look at these manholes, it sounds
to me that the whole drainage system may be overloaded when in use.

nem

Thank you so much for your advice.

In terms of getting the LA Building Control Officer to look into these manholes, can I instruct my next solicitor to arrange that for me? Or must I call the officer myself instead? Only thinking, if the next solicitor gets involved, they can obtain all evidence and/or paperwork from the officer, so the solicitor will be aware of what is going on here...

Many thanks