Conveyancing Negligence Compensation Claims

• Expert advice from No Win No Fee solicitors
• Fully certified by the Solicitors Regulation Authority
• Over 10 years of experience handling professional negligence cases just like yours
• Our independent law firm has a high success rate supporting clients across England and Wales

Making a conveyancing negligence claim

Whether you’re buying your first house or climbing the property ladder, moving home is one of the most stressful life events and probably the most expensive purchase you will ever make. If you require the services of a conveyancer, finding the right one can be a minefield. You need experienced and competent legal professionals to help you during the process but sometimes you can be let down by the advice or guidance you receive.

All too often, conveyancing transactions are not completed according to plan. Errors can be made and land searches can be missed or misinterpreted. It can have serious consequences for you – causing either financial loss or loss of chance.

If anything goes wrong during the sale or purchase of a home, it can be confusing to know where to turn for help. This is where Been Let Down comes in. Thanks to our experience in handling conveyancing negligence cases, we can help you make a claim.

Contact us today to speak to a member of our conveyancing negligence team.

What is conveyancing?

Conveyancing is an essential part of buying or selling a home. It is the legal process when the ownership of a home is transferred from a seller to a buyer. It often starts when an offer is accepted and ends when the sale is completed.

This involves making enquiries and searches about the property to see if any issues could affect the transaction. Conveyancing often includes:

• Checking the extent of the property to be transferred
• Enquiring as to whether any third party has any rights over the property
• Looking into any restrictions on the use of the property
• Confirming current ownership with the Land Registry
• Establishing whether the property benefits from planning permission and building regulations approval
• Checking the flooding risk
• Finding out whether there are any development plans which may affect the property

What is the Conveyancing Quality Scheme?

Solicitors or licenced conveyancers are typically members of the Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS). It means that, as professionals, they must meet certain standards, including a duty to provide competent service. If your conveyancer breaches that duty, you should seek the help of professional negligence experts with strong expertise in conveyancing negligence cases.

What does conveyancing ‘negligence’ mean?

Unless you are a first-time buyer, the conveyancing process is likely to involve both a purchase and a sale. Timing is always critical. But many other things can go wrong – even when your professional has carried out the same process many times before.

Here are some examples of common conveyancing negligence claims that we can help with:

• Not properly investigating title(s)
• Failing to look at restrictive covenants
• Missing any rights of way
• Building regulation certificates not present
• Planning problems
• Failing to perform full searches
• Failing to advise you about adverse entries on searches
• Land Registry failures
• Not correctly defining boundaries
• Failing to take account of survey reports
• Not removing registered charge or mortgage
• Not paying off the mortgage on the sold property

It is important to remember that these are just a few ways that things can go wrong. Conveyancing is a complex process so you should get in touch with a solicitor who has experience in handling professional negligence cases against conveyancers if any mistakes have been made that have led to a financial loss.

When assessing your case, it is important to make a clear distinction between poor service and negligent service. You may be able to lodge a formal complaint if it is technically defined as poor service – but not negligent. Please refer to our frequently asked questions for more information.

What is a Legal Ombudsman?

If you are uncertain whether there has been a problem relating to the conveyancing process you can contact the Legal Ombudsman. They will look at your complaint and consider whether there is any merit in it. They mainly consider service standards.

They are unable to offer you legal advice and cannot help you make conveyancing negligence claims against your licensed conveyancer. For this, you will need to contact a dedicated team of legal specialists who have expertise in property law and your rights.

How do you know if you have a claim for conveyancer negligence?

A conveyancing negligence claim can take many forms and impact you in different ways. Some of the reasons you might have a valid claim include:

• Uncovering serious defects in the title of the property which mean you do not have the right to services such as water, electricity or sewerage
• Not being able to make alterations to a new home because of planning restrictions or other restrictive covenants you weren’t made aware of
• Finding out that an extension at the property does not have the correct planning permission or building regulations approval
• The value of your home is reduced due to nearby building development projects
• Having to go through the costly renegotiation of a lease agreement with a freeholder because the length or terms were not properly explained
• Finding out that part of the land and/or property was not included in the purchase of your new home – such as a garden or garage
• Finding out that you do not have rights of way to access part or all your property, or that someone else has a right of way over your property

If you are confident you suffered a recognisable financial loss due to the actions or inactions of a conveyancing solicitor or licensed conveyancer, you should get in touch with a legal professional.

How can we help with a conveyancing negligence claim?

If a conveyancing and property solicitor or licensed conveyancer lets you down and you lose out financially during the sale or purchase of a home, you may be able to make a conveyancing negligence claim.

Been Let Down’s team of legal experts has handled many professional negligence claims against conveyancers. Our knowledge and guidance give you the best chance of getting the recognition and compensation you are owed when you suffer due to conveyancing negligence.

When you find out that your conveyancing solicitor or licensed conveyancer was negligent, you must find a professional negligence solicitor who is sensitive to the many factors involved. Our legal experts understand the issues that matter to you. We have handled many conveyancing negligence cases and can appreciate your stress and concern.

As such, the Been Let Down legal team is here to support and guide you through your claim in a helpful, friendly and expert manner. Call 0800 234 3234 or contact us and we will listen to the facts of your case and advise on your conveyancing negligence claim.

How to start a conveyancing negligence claim

If you are unlucky enough to suffer problems due to negligence on the part of your solicitor or a licensed conveyancer, you may be feeling frustrated and unsure of your legal options.

Here at Been Let Down, you will discuss your conveyancing negligence claim with a member of our specialist team in the strictest of confidence. The financial impact of professional negligence during the conveyancing process can be devastating to your personal and/or company finances.

The advisable course of action is to get in touch with our trusted specialists to assess the legal details of your case. Poor conveyancing can have many implications – not least that it can put your family home and your security at risk.

How to prepare your conveyancing negligence claim

When suing a conveyancing solicitor for negligence, you can count on our solicitors to help you with your professional negligence claim. To ensure we can build the strongest possible conveyancing negligence case and prove you have suffered substantial losses due to conveyancing incompetence, we will need you to provide us with full details of what happened.

This includes copies of all paperwork you received from your solicitor or licensed conveyancer – as well as dates and times of events as they occurred. In due course we will obtain the original conveyancing file from the solicitors.

By trusting your case with our professional and specialist claims solicitors, you can rest assured that it will be handled in both a timely and efficient manner. You must be reimbursed fairly and fully for any losses incurred – financial, emotional, or practical.

How does a conveyancing negligence claim work?

Our team of legal advisors is here to help you determine if you can claim damages successfully. With us, all initial consultations are free – with zero obligation to pursue a claim. Please complete our enquiry form and one of our team will call you back or call 0800 234 3234.

If you decide to proceed with your professional negligence claim against your conveyancer, it follows a set process that is laid out in the Pre-Action Protocol for Professional Negligence. The broad steps that any conveyancing negligence claim takes are:

• Learning what went wrong and how it happened, reviewing the paperwork that you provide, and the conveyancer’s file, to identify where negligence occurred
• Collecting detailed statements, expert opinions and evidence about your case
• Sending the insurers of the individual or firm in question an official letter of claim

The next step(s) can depend on how willing the other party is to accept fault. If the insurers do so, a settlement can be reached at this point. If not, we may seek mediation to settle your claim – otherwise, court proceedings will be needed as a last resort. In some cases it is necessary to obtain an expert report identifying the extent of your loss.

How much compensation can you claim for conveyancing negligence?

There is no set amount of compensation you could receive if your claim is a success. It will come down to the unique circumstances of your conveyancing negligence case and the extent of your losses.

It can be based on factors including any costs you incur to fix defects or resolve problems or the amount you overpaid or undersold on a property deal. In all cases, we aim to ensure you receive the maximum amount of compensation possible. We will be guided where appropriate by experts in the field of valuation.

How can you fund your conveyancing negligence claim?

Should you decide to make a claim, our conveyancing negligence solicitors usually offer to take on your claim on a No Win No Fee basis. This is also known as a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA).

If your conveyancing negligence claim is successful, we will take a pre-agreed fee as payment. This is called a ‘success fee’ and is a percentage of the eventual settlement agreed with you at the start. And we aim to beat any offer you may receive.

If we are not successful, you will have nothing to pay. This ensures you can seek what you are owed without any financial risk to yourself.

How long do you have to make a claim?

Time is of the essence with any compensation claim. Strict time limits apply, which start from the date of the conveyancing negligence, usually the date contracts were exchanged, – or the date you are first aware of damage caused.

In most cases, you must lodge a claim with the court within six years of the negligence, but in some circumstances, you may have three years from when you became aware of the problem. But we also know that this is not always clear-cut. So, if you are not sure, we can help.

There is a longstop date of 15 years from the date of the negligence/loss in which a claim must be brought, after which, irrespective of when you first knew, or ought to have known, of a potential claim, you cannot bring the claim.

Why trust Been Let Down with your conveyancing negligence claim?

When you instruct a conveyancer, you expect conveyancing transactions to be completed according to plan. So, it can be difficult to know what to do next when conveyancing negligence occurs – that is where we come in.

Here are just a few reasons why you should trust Been Let Down with your conveyancing negligence claim:

• As an independent law firm, we handle each of our client’s claims directly and will do everything we can to achieve a positive outcome in your case
• Every solicitor on our legal team is fully authorised by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and is a member of The Law Society and Liverpool Law Society
• Take a look at the hundreds of positive independent reviews left by clients who are satisfied with our service
• We take cases on a No Win No Fee basis, so you will only have to pay if your case is successful
• Our legal specialists have many years of experience handling professional negligence claims against conveyancers, just like your own

Here to help you

Negligent conveyancing can have serious consequences for you, but we are here to help.

Get in touch with our team to discover how we can help with your conveyancing negligence case. You can phone 0800 234 3234 or contact us and one of our expert team will call you back.