Breach of contract - what to do



Vanilla said:
No. The vendor either is the sole owner or isn't. The issue about needing spouse consent/signature is a different matter. The vendors solicitor would usually prepare the contracts just from the title. However when it came to preparing the closing documents/signing the contracts the question was raised and the issue emerged.
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That makes sense
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The vendor is the sole owner. The complication arises because the vendor is married. In any case, depending on how (dis)organised a vendor is, the title requisitions and so on are sometimes not sought until the sale is advanced, and they may not have sat down and discussed things in full with their solicitor because they didn't realise the implications of the Family Home Protection Act.

As a non-solicitor, and someone at least occasionally cynical about the legal professions, I sometimes find the speed with which people assume the solicitor must be the person at fault to be positively breath-taking.
 
"I sometimes find the speed with which people assume the solicitor must be the person at fault to be positively breath-taking."

Thank you for that.

I am turning into my mother.

People today find it hard to accept responsibility for anything. It is always someone elses fault. Solicitors are a natural fall guy/gal.

When people ask me what I do for a living I tell them that I repeat myself: over and over and over and over. It does no good.

Sigh.

mf
 
To be honest I think this is terrible. how could the solicitor not have known until this stage. somebody didn't dot their i's and cross their t's in my opinion. also if the wife didn't have to sign contracts would she be required to sign closing documents at this stage?
 
Margie said:
To be honest I think this is terrible. how could the solicitor not have known until this stage. somebody didn't dot their i's and cross their t's in my opinion. also if the wife didn't have to sign contracts would she be required to sign closing documents at this stage?
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I think so as well. It should have been one of the first questions the solicitor asked him.



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I'm not trying to run down solicitors. In fact I think my own is fantastic. She is so careful about everything. But I agree entirely with anon33.

I hope you get this sorted out. The best of luck to you.
 
W still don't have any update as of today. We were demanding an answer from the sellers solicitor to be given today if they still want to sell or not and threatened them that we otherwise return the money back to the bank.

is there anything else we can do?
 
Return what money back to the bank? Aren't you the prospective buyer so why would you be returning money to anybody!?
 
we got the mortgage of the bank based on this property.

When the contracts had been signed the solicitor drew the complete cheque to be able to close straight away when the closing documents would be returned. This hasn't happened in the last 6 weeks, what means for us we are not only paying interest on the 10% deposit we got from the bank but also we have are starting to pay a mortgage for a house we don't have yet in 3 weeks time.

We have to threaten the seller with something I suppose as we have no other legal options we were told. This could go on forever.
 
The only thing I still don't understand about the 28 days notice - If we would delay the sale as buyers and the seller would serve us with a notice of 28 days
he could keep the deposit if we don't close within 28 days of the notice(means he could keep 10% of the house price)

But if we serve him with the notice he is off the hook afterwards and has no loss whatsoever(of course we can sue him but that would take months I am sure)

So basically we get nothing out of it and we paid also a solicitor for nothing to show for in the end
 
"But if we serve him with the notice he is off the hook afterwards and has no loss whatsoever(of course we can sue him but that would take months I am sure)"

No - he not off the hook. He is obliged to sell to you. It may take months - it might even take years and it will cost a lot of money but he is not off the hook. You may at some stage decide to cut your losses and just walk away or you may try and work out what needs doing by the vendor.

You have been unfortunate and got caught in a difficult situation. It is not your fault and it is not your solicitor's fault. It is your vendor's fault. These things happen - it is human nature - no more, no less.

It is unfortunate that you have to pay for your solicitor's time but its worth remembering that this is your problem - not the solicitor's and they are simply involved in trying to deal with the process on your behalf.

mf
 
mf1 said:
its worth remembering that this is your problem - not the solicitor's
mf
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I can't believe this. What have you just paid a couple of grand to your solicitor for? The major blip that has been made has to be someone's fault. Why would it be yours. Most buyers, myself included at the time, are completely green. Isn't this why we get a solicitor in the first place. If your solicitor didn't notice the problem, shouldn't the vendors solicitor have? Something is seriously wrong here.
 
My husband is so annoyed he just wants to walk away from and cut our losses but I'd really love to have the house and I am thinking- what's the alternative

Move out again and find a rental house until we have another property bought? That means at least moving twice with 2 kids. Not my idea of bliss:(
 
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So - has Vendor's wife returned? Is she going to sign or not?

mf
 
That's a good question. We have no update from the sellers solicitor whatsoever since we got the keys 10 days ago through the caretaking agreement.

Our solicitor is ringing and sending faxes but nothing.

The auctioneer has lost any interest. I suppose he has been paid by now




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If I were you in such a terrible situation I'd get onto Joe Duffy. Then the sellers solicitor will sort things out for you.
 
"If I were you in such a terrible situation I'd get onto Joe Duffy. Then the sellers solicitor will sort things out for you."

Or else, so horrendous will be the broohaha that this will take even longer to resolve. I don't think this is very good advice. In the end, it is unlikely to be the Vendor's solicitor who is causing the problem. It is far more likely to be the Vendor and the wife. Going on Joe Duffy will only make it worse.

I suggest the following:

1. Clearly ascertain from your own solicitor what is the current state of play.
2. Ascertain the worst possible case financial scenario to you to resolve the matter.
3. Ascertain if all steps necessary to be taken by you have been taken - i.e. 28 days notice.
4. Once you are in possession of all the facts now ( ignore the fact that Vendors are not coming clean - you have no control over that )
5. Decide then if you want to sue for specific performance - you are very likely to succeed but it will be at a cost to you and it will be nigh impossible for you to know in advance how long this will take and how much it will cost.

You may well decide its not worth the hassle.

These things happen. You won't be the first and you won't be the last.

mf
 
The worst thinb is that we don't get any response from the sellers solicitor - neither positive or negative

I'd love to walk into their office and demand a response but my husband thinks that's not a good idea:mad:





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