Document required from Solicitor when putting site into own name

kittykatr

Hi, can anyone help me, we were given a site by my neighbour 7 years ago to build a house on which we did, we used our local solicitor and paid all moneys that he requested back 7 years ago, got our mortgage with the ptsb and he dealt with all the paperwork aswel, the problem is to date we have not received as much as a receipt from our solicitor we have nothing to say that the site is in our name we have no new folio number (not sure do we get a new folio number) I am getting very worried now as our solicitor will not answer our calls and wont call us back, just wondering what exactally should I be asking him for, should I be satistied that all is in order for the PTSB or are they just taking his word as a solicitor

Stargal

Moved to the Legal Discussion forum.

partyguinness

Well, when the PTSB Mortgage Pack was signed by you, it included a Solicitor's Undertaking which is basically the Solicitor giving an undertaking to PTSB to register and forward title documentation in due course.

The banks write to solicitors every so often checking up on the title deeds. If the solicitor has not carried out his job, he is answerable to the bank and they will pursue him if any problems arise...not you. Solicitors are insured. 99.9% of the time there is no problem.

You can ring the bank and ask them to check their securities department to see if the Certificate of Title has been returned by the Solicitor.

You can also go into the Land Registry office (provided it is registered title and you have mentioned a folio number so I assume it is) and conduct a Search for a small fee on the land in question to see any dealings against the land.

This should shed some light on the situation if you are getting nowhere with your own solicitor.

dats_right

OP,
You are looking for a Folio no. and if your registration is not completed, for any reason, you should look for a dealing number. But, in all likelihood the solicitor has completed the transaction at this stage, the deeds have been returned to PTSB Legal & Securities Dept and you are worrying unecessarily. Especially as the PTSB would have been chasing him up (or more accurately hounding him) regarding compliance with his Undertaking to them to register the title and security (mortgage).

I know it may seem unsatisfactory from your point of view that the solicitor isn't returning your calls, but equally such queries aren't going to be top priority for him as obviously he is going to focus his time on current files and clients (fee earning) rather than files which have been closed off. I suggest that you persist with polite queries to his office, or alternatively, you could call PTSB Legal & Securities Dept. who will be able to tell you whether they are in possession of your title deeds. Because if they are you can assume that the legal work has been completed (as solr would not have returned deeds with incomplete title/security to bank). If the bank have your deeds they may be able to provide you with your Folio no. or if not you can obtain same from the Land Registry (www.landregistry.ie).

If however, the deeds haven't been returned to the bank and/or your title has not been registered you will need to talk to the solicitor urgently.

partyguinness

dats_right wrote: »

OP,
You are looking for a Folio no. and if your registration is not completed, for any reason, you should look for a dealing number. But, in all likelihood the solicitor has completed the transaction at this stage, the deeds have been returned to PTSB Legal & Securities Dept and you are worrying unecessarily. Especially as the PTSB would have been chasing him up (or more accurately hounding him) regarding compliance with his Undertaking to them to register the title and security (mortgage).

I know it may seem unsatisfactory from your point of view that the solicitor isn't returning your calls, but equally such queries aren't going to be top priority for him as obviously he is going to focus his time on current files and clients (fee earning) rather than files which have been closed off. I suggest that you persist with polite queries to his office, or alternatively, you could call PTSB Legal & Securities Dept. who will be able to tell you whether they are in possession of your title deeds. Because if they are you can assume that the legal work has been completed (as solr would not have returned deeds with incomplete title/security to bank). If the bank have your deeds they may be able to provide you with your Folio no. or if not you can obtain same from the Land Registry (www.landregistry.ie).

If however, the deeds haven't been returned to the bank and/or your title has not been registered you will need to talk to the solicitor urgently.

In fairness, that is not helpful and rather dismissive if not slightly obnoxious.

Even if the solicitor has more pressing matters, the OP paid for a service and at the very least the solicitor could ask an office junior to chase it up. It would only take 5 mins to ascertain the up to date position. If the solicitor is not responding to a fairly basic request then if really doesnt say much for his/her interpersonal skills and perhaps the OP should be slightly miffed

kittykatr

Thanks for that guys just rang ptsb and low and behold they havent received the deeds from him and have been ringing and writing too to no satisfaction. The kind lady in PTSB told me they will contact him again today so guys dont assume that your solicitor has all your paperwork in order recent media should make us all more aware of solicitors you only need to log on to ratemysolicitor.ie to find that out

partyguinness

kittykatr wrote: »

Thanks for that guys just rang ptsb and low and behold they havent received the deeds from him and have been ringing and writing too to no satisfaction. The kind lady in PTSB told me they will contact him again today so guys dont assume that your solicitor has all your paperwork in order recent media should make us all more aware of solicitors you only need to log on to ratemysolicitor.ie to find that out

Well thats progress glad to have helped.

BUT please be aware that ratemysolicitor.ie is not reliable. I have seen posts slagging off law firms in the name of the firm even though the founding member has been dead for a 100 yrs. For example,

(Based on a real firm) "Joe Bloggs & Co Solicitors"...Joe Bloggs set up the firm 100 years ago and is of course dead.

Now, I have seen this written "Joe Bloggs is a terrible solicitor, no consideration to his clients, ripped me off etc etc Avoid."

A lot of the comments are to be taken with a very large pinch of salt...;)

kittykatr

Yes you are indeed correct, however I have looked my solicitor on there and all is true.....

partyguinness

It might be no harm to write or email PTSB, the banks are getting spooked these days and are chasing up solicitors for Deed more actively.

If PTSB see that they and you are getting nowhere they will have to complian to the law society. Also keep a log of the (unanswered) emails, phone calls and letters you send to the solicitor. He is not acting in a professional manner and still has an outstanding Undertaking that the bank must chase up.

kizzyf

OP understand your concerns. When you do speak to your Solicitor ask them if there is a reason why they delayed in sending them on. Occasionally it may be for another reason such as awaiting a Cert of Compliance but bear in mind that they would not have returned your Deeds until your registration is completed and the Land Registry can be very slow at times.