Buying a house can be a stressful experience, even when things don’t go wrong. Spare a thought then for how devasted the new owners of a grand Victorian residence in Hastings must have felt when they found out that the house they had just bought needed to be demolished. Thankfully, their story has a happy ending – an award of compensation of nearly £200,000. The purchasers were Major Christopher Scott and his wife Elizabeth. Their search for a family home started in 2011 when they were living in New Zealand, where he was stationed with the ... Read More >
Negligent advice about lease
A client of a large UK law firm recovered over £150,000 in damages after being given negligent advice about a lease. LSREF III Wight Ltd v Gateley LLP [2016] EWCA Civ 359 The solicitors Gateley LLP were instructed by a subsidiary of Anglo Irish Bank (the Bank) to prepare a report on title in relation to property being offered to the Bank by the Bank’s borrower as security for a loan of up to £1.1m. The loan was to be used by the borrower to pay for development of a building in Leicester (the Property) into commercial premises with residential ... Read More >
Wrong plan costs solicitor over £200,000
In the case of Mansion Estates Ltd v Hayre & Co (a firm) [2016] EWHC 96 (Ch) the High Court in Leeds ordered a solicitor, who had used the wrong plan in a property transaction, to pay substantial damages to a client. In late 2006 the Claimant instructed the Defendant firm of solicitors, Hayre & Co (the Solicitor) to act on its behalf in the purchase of land at 60 to 64 Toller Lane, Bradford for £1.7million. The Solicitor was also instructed to act in the simultaneous sale of part of that land, 60 Toller Lane, by the Claimant to a Mr ... Read More >
Claim against a surveyor needs expert evidence, says Court
Claimants in a negligence claim against a surveyor lost an application in the High Court this month concerning expert evidence. The decision in Wattret & Anor v Thomas Sands Consulting Ltd [2015] EWHC 3455 (TCC) illustrates when expert evidence is necessary in a professional negligence claim. The Claimants Mr and Mrs Wattret are the owners of a sizeable home in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. The background is that Mr and Mrs Wattret found themselves in dispute with their builders about building works carried out at the property. Mr and ... Read More >
Solicitor failed to advise about planning permission
Did your conveyancing solicitor fail to advise you about a planning permission issue affecting a property you bought? If so, you may be entitled to compensation, although perhaps not as much as the £1.5million recovered by the claimant in the High Court case of Orientfield Holdings Ltd v Bird & Bird LLP [2015] EWHC 1963 (Ch) (26 June 2015) who agreed to buy for over £25million the house pictured below, which it turned out was affected by a significant planning permission issue. In that case, after contacts were exchanged and the claimant ... Read More >
Conveyancing solicitor failed to tell client about planning condition
Bacciottini & Anor v Goldsmith [2014] EWHC 3527 – claimant purchased property for development purposes – claimant’s solicitor failed to report planning restriction – property worth £100,000 less with planning restriction – after purchase claimant successfully applied to remove planning condition – whether claimant entitled to difference in value In May 2007, Mr Bacciottini purchased three barns and five acres of land on Snape Hall estate in Suffolk for £575,000. One barn had been converted into a cottage some time before 2007, planning ... Read More >
Conveyancing negligence claims – not out of the woods yet
Conveyancing negligence claims - not out of the woods yet Conveyancing negligence claims against solicitors increased dramatically during the post-2008 recession after property prices fell. Now that property prices have recovered in most of England and Wales, it would be natural to assume that the number of claims for negligent conveyancing should fall away to pre-recession levels. Although that is what happened after previous recessions, this time round it may not, as solicitors struggle to cope with a surge in property transactions. During ... Read More >
An expensive mistake – solicitors get lease notice wrong
Commercial lease - business tenancy – break clause – conditions - non-compliance with requirement - tenant’s notice wrong & invalid – tenant’s solicitors drafted and served the defective notice – potential negligence claim by tenant against its solicitors - Friends Life Ltd v Siemens Hearing Instruments Ltd [2014] EWCA Civ 382 Long leases often contain a “break clause” which allows the tenant to end the lease early, usually by giving written notice to the landlord. For example, a 21 year commercial lease may contain a break clause allowing ... Read More >
Negligent architect’s plans left house with structural problems
Negligent architect - design - plans - renovation - refurbishment - structural problems - remedial works - repair costs - Farrer v Wiles [2013] EWCA Civ 1511 . England’s second highest court, the Court of Appeal, dismissed an appeal by a negligent architect's insurers in which they disputed the amount he was ordered to pay a dissatisfied client. In 2002, Mr Noel Farrer (“the Architect”) was instructed by Mrs Wiles (“the Client”) to prepare plans to redesign the layout of a 200-year old coach house which she had recently bought in Slapton, ... Read More >
Negligent property solicitor avoids liability for large losses
Xenakis - Birkett Long - Negligent Property Solicitor - Restaurant - Lease - Personal Guarantee - Failure to Advise of Risks. In the solicitor's negligence case of Xenakis and Corke v Birkett Long LLP [2014] EWHC 171 (QB) the claimants appeared to have a good claim: the solicitor had been negligent and the court accepted that the claimants had - quite reasonably - incurred substantial costs as a result, which they would not have incurred had the solicitor not been negligent. However, they did not recover their outlay, and the case usefully ... Read More >