House deeds

Thespoofer

How soon after purchasing a house/receiving the house keys should I expect to get the ' house deeds ' or some form of cert to proof of ownership ?

I bought a second hand house a couple of months back and to say the performance of the solicitor ( local guy ) I used throughout the process was far from professional, to the point of I don't trust him at all.

I have sent an email two weeks ago to no reply and rang last week and was told by his secretary he'll ring back but never did.

Is it possible for him to pull a stroke with this property ? ( paranoid I know )

Thanks

Pat Mustard

Ask the secretary to post you a copy of the deed which shows you to be the registered owner of the property.

Thespoofer

The Mustard wrote: »

Ask the secretary to post you a copy of the deed which shows you to be the registered owner of the property.

And if she says she can't ( for some reason ) ?

Pat Mustard

Thespoofer wrote: »

And if she says she can't ( for some reason ) ?

You could check to see if it has been registered in the Land Registry.

Other than that, you could write to the solicitor and inform him that if you don't get a satisfactory explanation within a reasonable amount of time, expense may be incurred in taking matters further.

coylemj

Check if it's logged here, you should be able to see the date of sale and purchase price.

www.propertypriceregister.ie

Thespoofer

coylemj wrote: »

Check if it's logged here, you should be able to see the date of sale and purchase price.

www.propertypriceregister.ie

Yes it's logged here. It's just that I don't have the paper in front of me to prove it.
I know it may seem I'm over reacting but the way he handled the deal left me with very little confidence.

Thespoofer

The Mustard wrote: »

You could check to see if it has been registered in the Land Registry.

Other than that, you could write to the solicitor and inform him that if you don't get a satisfactory explanation within a reasonable amount of time, expense may be incurred in taking matters further.

Thanks, I'll give them a buzz in the morning.

Peregrinus

If you took out a mortgage to buy the property, it's quite likely that the deeds are held by the bank, and will be until the mortgage is cleared.

But your solicitor should, at the very least, be explaining this to you.

Thespoofer

I rang the land registery and spoke to a very helpful lady.
They found our details registered, thank God, since over a month ago.
She told me the Solicitor could at least have the courtesy to inform me of this, which he did not, again another fine example of ignorance on his behalf.

I'll give you another example, he never contacted the Engineer I was using, ( I was set on buying the property anyway ) as the Engineer contacted me and asked how it all went as he never heard from the ' Solicitor '.
When we signed in his office the contracts the Solicitor said here is a map of the site, it has a well on it ( I stated it does not ) and he looked very caught out to say the least.

I have a good mind to give him a piece of my mind but another side if me is saying the deal is done just forget about him.


Thanks to all for your help.

ongarboy

Yes, I guess the lesson learned is that you will not be using him for any legal assistance ever again nor recommend him to anyone else. The sheer lack of professionalism of some solicitors amazes me and their seeming disinterest to maintain or win new clients - they obviously are not struggling to generate revenue if they can treat their clients so appallingly.

I read a worrying article in the Sunday Times yesterday about a woman who belatedly found out the house was never registered in her name and has created all sorts of problems for her (aggravated by the fact she was in arrears with the mortgage on the property). It has made me paranoid enough to contact my solicitor also just to confirm my name is on my deeds (even though I still have a mortgage on the property so not sure if it's the bank's name on it until I've cleared the mortgage).