Bill not paid by solicitor.

muffler

Just looking for a little advice on this. Some time ago a solicitor wrote to me and asked me to furnish an opinion on compliance with planning permission for a property that was being mortgaged. This was done and I invoiced the solicitor accordingly.

But now the solicitor is under investigation by the law society and is no longer practicing. As he was a sole practitioner the business is shut.

In short, how do I go abut getting my fees paid now?

coylemj

Your status is that of yet another of his creditors, you can join the queue which probably includes his landlord, the ESB, the local council (rates) etc.

Potentially you could try billing the client for whom the work was ultimately done but you'll probably discover that he (the client) already paid the solicitor for your professional services so you'll hit a dead end there.

partyguinness

muffler wrote: »

Just looking for a little advice on this. Some time ago a solicitor wrote to me and asked me to furnish an opinion on compliance with planning permission for a property that was being mortgaged. This was done and I invoiced the solicitor accordingly.

But now the solicitor is under investigation by the law society and is no longer practicing. As he was a sole practitioner the business is shut.

In short, how do I go abut getting my fees paid now?

It depends on your client. In other words, did you have a previous relationship with the mortgagor? Where did you send your T&Cs? Some time ago? Can you elaborate. I know engineers/surveyors in the UK will not do any work until they are paid up front either by the mortgagor or via the solicitor.

My gut instinct is that this will have to go into your bad debt pile.

muffler

coylemj wrote: »

Potentially you could try billing the client for whom the work was ultimately done but you'll probably discover that he (the client) already paid the solicitor for your professional services so you'll hit a dead end there.

I could try billing the client (solicitor's client) but whether he paid up or not before now I'll probably never know. About 7 or 8 months after I sent my invoice to the solicitor I asked his secretary about it one day when I was talking to her on the phone about something else. She said that "their" fees had not yet been paid which meant that when they got paid I would get paid.

partyguinness wrote: »

It depends on your client. In other words, did you have a previous relationship with the mortgagor? Where did you send your T&Cs? Some time ago? Can you elaborate. I know engineers/surveyors in the UK will not do any work until they are paid up front either by the mortgagor or via the solicitor.

My gut instinct is that this will have to go into your bad debt pile.

I didn't/don't know the client at all. I do know the solicitor personally and never had any issues previously. This was a straight forward job, one of many I would have done for him over the years.

There was no T & C's as such. Some solicitors in my neck of the woods simply make use of the unwritten rule of when they get paid I get paid and its not uncommon for them to have received payment and I still wouldn't have been paid and would have had to chase them up on a few occasions in the past.

As mentioned above I did inquire about it some time ago and was told that they were waiting on their client to come up with the payment and they were withholding various documents from the bank including my cert until such time as the client settled their account. They were hoping that the bank/banks' legal people would put pressure on the guy directly to come up with whatever documents they needed.

partyguinness

muffler wrote: »

I could try billing the client (solicitor's client) but whether he paid up or not before now I'll probably never know. About 7 or 8 months after I sent my invoice to the solicitor I asked his secretary about it one day when I was talking to her on the phone about something else. She said that "their" fees had not yet been paid which meant that when they got paid I would get paid.


I didn't/don't know the client at all. I do know the solicitor personally and never had any issues previously. This was a straight forward job, one of many I would have done for him over the years.

There was no T & C's as such. Some solicitors in my neck of the woods simply make use of the unwritten rule of when they get paid I get paid and its not uncommon for them to have received payment and I still wouldn't have been paid and would have had to chase them up on a few occasions in the past.

As mentioned above I did inquire about it some time ago and was told that they were waiting on their client to come up with the payment and they were withholding various documents from the bank including my cert until such time as the client settled their account. They were hoping that the bank/banks' legal people would put pressure on the guy directly to come up with whatever documents they needed.

TBH I think you will have to write this off. Opinion on compliance? I guess we are taking a few hundred euro plus vat.

Not telling you how to do your job, but you may wish to consider payment up front in the future. I know engineers etc who do this or at least do not release the report until payment. I fully appreciate the unwritten rule but you should not have to work for free and you should not be embarrassed about seeking payment up front. If I have suspicions about a client's ability to pay, I will insist on a payment on account. TBH I can't think of a client that has refused. Also, I will not instruct a third party without ensuring they are paid.

As the solicitor had not money on account for your costs, I believe that the solicitor knew you were never going to get paid.

Still though, I would submit the bill to the Law Society and it may get paid. Worth a shot.

muffler

partyguinness wrote: »

TBH I think you will have to write this off. Opinion on compliance? I guess we are taking a few hundred euro plus vat.

Not telling you how to do your job, but you may wish to consider payment up front in the future. I know engineers etc who do this or at least do not release the report until payment. I fully appreciate the unwritten rule but you should not have to work for free and you should not be embarrassed about seeking payment up front. If I have suspicions about a client's ability to pay, I will insist on a payment on account. TBH I can't think of a client that has refused. Also, I will not instruct a third party without ensuring they are paid.

As the solicitor had not money on account for your costs, I believe that the solicitor knew you were never going to get paid.

Still though, I would submit the bill to the Law Society and it may get paid. Worth a shot.

I understand fully what you are saying about getting paid up front and in most cases i work on that basis or at least on a similar basis. For the likes of certs of compliance, transfer maps etc where they are requested by clients I dont part with them until they have been paid for. For larger jobs (plans etc0 I will take a deposit with balance on completion and again the work is not handed over or submitted for planning etc until the fees are fully paid.

However with solicitors all this goes out the window. A couple of them have been very good to me over the years including the solicitor who I have the problem with. They have a list of people as long as their arm they could send requests out to and its nice that they keep me in mind. Work involving plans/planning permission will nearly always start out with dealings directly between me and the client. At a later stage the same client will most likely need a transfer map prepared, cost estimates prepared for lenders, supervision/stage payment certs and on almost every such occasion the solicitor will either refer them directly back to me or alternatively the solicitor will contact me.

But every so often jobs arise where the the client's original engineer or architect has retired or passed on or emigrated or maybe the plans were prepared by a school teacher etc. In these situations the client's solicitor then decides to retain the services of someone else. This is one of those situations and I was the chosen one so to speak. As I say they these jobs do crop up every so often and I wouldnt even consider requesting payment up front from the solicitor if for no other reason than he/she would choose someone else for the next job that comes along.

Oh, yeah its a few hundred euro but with the times that are in it every cent is worth chasing these days.

Edit /just to add that this is the first time that this has happened with this particular solicitor. Some or most accounts were settled immediately with the remainder paid in full at some stage or another.