Solicitor misrepresented house sale - options?

phil1nj

All,
I'm in a bit of a bind here and just wondering if there is any advice that can be given:

I was meant to close on a house purchase 3 weeks ago. A week after the original closing date, it came to light that the sellers' solicitor had misrepresented the sale of the property. The solicitor had declared at the start of the transaction that the estate where the property is located had been handed over to the county council. In fact it hasn't and this was discovered by the solicitor acting on my behalf just before closing was due to happen. As a result of this, the bank issuing the funds for my mortage have not issued payment and won't until they are satisified that steps have been taken to recitify the above. What these steps are is unclear at the moment and seem to change from day to day.

The selller is getting very impatient with me and has threatened to pull out of the sale if this is not resolved in the next couple of weeks. This is despite the fact that the delay is not of my making. My own solicitor has informed me that I am entitled to back out of the transaction and claim damages due to the vendors solicitor misrepresenting the sale. This should have been declared at the beginning of the purchase.

At this stage, I absolutley do not want to back out of the sale, proof of a ten year bond has been issued to the bank which is still in effect for the estate. I have paid my portion of the full house payment to my own solicitor and I am waiting to move in to the property. The seller has already vacated the premises (they were gearing up for the original closing date too).

No firm date has been given for the bank making their decision.

Henry Ford III

If the lender won't advance the funds I can't see how this can end well.

Don't take any nonsense from the seller either. This issue isn't of your making. Make sure the issue is in writing and has been communicated to the seller and their solicitor.

The_Morrigan

This really is something that needs to be sorted out between the solrs, all you can do is put yours under pressure to then in turn put the pressure on the vendors solr.
As Henry Ford said though, make sure that the issue is documented and that all parties are aware of who has done (or not done) what.

phil1nj

Thanks for the replies. Just really hoping that things get sorted sooner rather than later with this. From previous experiences of dealing with banks I'm not too hopeful of that. They tend to take their time when it comes to these things.

phil1nj

Just to follow up on this. The funds were released and the sale has now fully closed as of the middle of last week.