Prob with solicitor - certifying title

Hi

Hope someone can help. I took out a mortgage with Ulster bank to do up a property and was asked to furnish invoices each time I drew down funding as I did not take the entire mortgage out in one cheque. This practice was very time consuming and I requested Ulster bank put the remaining funds into my account to avoid delays. They appeared to agree to do this without invoices.

My solicitor refused to allow them to do this, saying she had to certify the title to the property used as security for the property. She disengaged me as her client without any explanation or warning save to say she had to certify title to the property and I was to get a new solicitor.

Subsequently I did at enormous expense and time.

Is certifying a title a major task & can I do anything to take the old solicitor to task?

Thank you
Mangos

Your solicitor was right. She had an undertaking to the bank to provide them with good title on completion- she could have no way of enforcing this ( ie by withholding funds until searches done, or until cert of compliance with planning provided, or even in relation to actual transfer depending on what stage you were at) if Ulster bank released the funds to you. Ulster bank should not have done so. Mind boggling.

Hi Vanilla
Thanks for response. However when I took out the loan with U. Bank, I used one of my properties as security. This did not have a mortgage attached to it, and the solicitor had the deeds of it for years. The money U.Bank loaned was being used to renovate another property and pay for leases. This property was not attached to the bank in any way. I had agreed with U. Bank that in order to access funding I would need to provide them with invoices. I understood the solicitor would have furnished title deeds etc to Ulster bank in return for the money as soon as the mortgage was approved.

The mortgage was drawn down in Dec 05 and she told me in April 06, she was disengaging me and needed to certify the title of property for Ulster bank. She also did not tell the bank she had disengaged me as her client.

Is this making any sense?
Mangos

What leases?

Were all legal, land registry, stamp duty, search fees and other outlay paid in full on drawdown?

she told me in April 06, she was disengaging me and needed to certify the title of property for Ulster bank. She also did not tell the bank she had disengaged me as her client.

Click to expand...

Sorry, but this does not make sense at all. If your solicitor had provided an undertaking to the bank then she could not have disengaged herself without forwarding title to the bank or having another solicitor take over her undertaking. I suspect there was a lot more to this story than you have described.

Hi again Vanilla

Thanks again for your response. I do not know why the solicitor chose to disengage me as her client as she did not furnish an explanation. I had been having serious difficulties obtaining feedback from her up to the point of disengagement. Once she disengaged I requested an explanation which I did not receive. She did instruct me to take on another solicitor which I did almost immediately. The new solicitor then took on the role of furnishing the relevant documentation to the Ulster bank as it seems she had not done so up to the point of disengagement. In addition, I signed 'mortgage documentation' in the new solicitor's office.

I paid the former solicitor's bill immediately after disengagement. However she did not give my new solicitor my file for about 3 months after payment. Nor was the new solicitor given all relevant documentation required for the bank in a timely manner. In the end I told my new solicitor that I would need to go to the law society regarding the transfer of file. My file was transferred the day after I said this to my new solicitor.

Unfortunately I do not understand the legal process/terms so I am probably using the wrong expressions. In referring to leases, what I mean is the obtaining of a vesting certificate for another property because the lease had expired. That is as I understand it.

What I really do not understand is the term 'certifying title'. My old solicitor should have been able to do this immediately as she had all the documentation for the property which I used for security. If the bank had had this documentation, I assumed releasing funding would not be a problem. I intend to pursue this matter via the law society in any case but I am trying to understand the terms so I have some clarity on the matter.

Thanks again
Mangos

Hi Mangos, I find it very difficult to follow exactly what transpired with your old solicitor from your posts. I think only your new solicitor will be able to explain the matter to you having received the file and should be able to tell you if you have a valid basis for a complaint to the Law Society or not.