CPO signed before buying a house

antiskeptic

JustAThought wrote: »

If your solicitor had done work for other local people and farmers s/he would have been well aware of the road and the impact on the property. It sounds like sharp trading practises and 'foreigner' he should have shown due dilligence and ensured that there was no room for misinterpretation and put it in writing as well as persinally checked the land registry to see who owned the land and ensuring this was clearly communicated to you before s/he presented the contracts to you to sign . Land registry is a legal document -not an engineers or surveyors responsibility. I didnt realise you had moved it - as it were I would still be formly accusing him of sharp & irresponsible trading practices and not showing due dilligence to his client leading to incomplete disclosure of information prior to presenting the contracts for you to sign. It is extremely shoddy work & not in line with his/her position as your legal representative - it lead to you mot knowing what you were buying and signing for a lroperty that was misrepresemted by the estate agent and not clear & lhysically presented in a manner that was deliberately misleading & now is significantly changed and devalued from the price yku were prepared to pay for it. It may now incur damage due to the proximity of major road works also that could impose significant repair costs or structural damage due to its 100 year old character - not to mention the ambient noise & air pollution. Despite what others say with admitted knowledge of the area CPO and works scheduled s/he was lacking in her duties and responsibilities to you and I would be putting in a complaint and claim against them. And not using a local solicitor for that either.

I agree. The OP shouldn't be too focused on the fact that they signed and that cover-your-back references are made about the client's obligation to satisfy themselves as to what they were purchasing. It is the solicitors job to adequately direct the client such that the client can make informed decisions. And where the client chooses to override solicitor concerns, that those decisions are both informed and signed of on.

There appears to be solid grounds for complaint on the basis of inadequate service (whether through sharp practice or incompetence).

La.m

OP, I would strongly suggest you make an appointment with another solicitor, someone with experience of professional indemnity work (i.e. taking claims against fellow solicitors). The reason people are saying out of locality is because solicitors in the same area do not like to take actions against their colleagues.

The new solicitor will be able to request the file from your original solicitor (assuming you have paid all your legal fees you have a right to that file) and examine it and tell you whether you have a strong case or not. You've mentioned that you solicitor told you things that were not set out in a letter. They may be recorded in attendance notes on the solicitors file. If not, the absence of notes on such an important issue would be itself an issue as no insurance company wants to defend a claim based on just oral evidence.

All solicitors have insurance and once a notification of a potential claim is made, their insurance company will also investigate. If you are meeting with your original solicitor I would ask for your file and also ask them if they have notified this circumstance to their insurers. If they tell you they have, that will let you know that they are sufficiently worried that you do have a potential claim.

I'm not saying you definitely have a case, I don't know the ins and outs of this matter. But a new solicitor in possession of the full facts will be able to tell you.

Walker63

Really many thanks for all of you.

I didn't thought we had so much help or advise on this matter. Like I said previously we have a meeting with him on monday morning, because he says we have a strong case on asking the vendor why he didn't mention the CPO. (which I believe it will never go further, as he sold the folio not the all plot)

I will keep you in touch after the meeting and we will see to seek another sollicitor our of the city of Sligo to see what could be done. Otherwise we will make a complaint at the society of law.

Many thanks again for all your advise!

JustAThought

Get a Dublin solicitor -Sligo is a small village by comparison - you can be sure all the solicitors there are well in with each other & are part of the same old boys club and social /legal circles. You needsomeone experienced and away from them all. Fish in a bigger pond with no links or allegiances. Sligo is far too small and you have already been burned once.

You are doing the right thing. Best of luck.

dubrov

Planning searches are generally for finding out if there is any future development in the area that may affect the value of the property. It wouldn't show that part of your property had already been sold.

Given it was a recent sale, the split should have been obvious to the solicitor and he should have advised you. After all that is what you were paying him for.

Definitely get a second opinion from a Dublin solicitor

Walker63

Hi All,

Just had the meeting with our sollicitor this morning. And actually he did ask to the vendors sollicitors if there was been a CPO + if there was been any modification of the property, they wrote NO, on a signed paper by the sollicitor and the vendor. But we agreed that they will say that it doesn't affect the Folio they sold, since it was already sold.

Basicaly , I will call the previous owner and find a solution for both of us, as I have to keep a relation with him for many years, as the septic tank of his rented house in front of ours, is in our field (Yes it was weird, but we compromised and agreed on that)

I'll keep you updated on the news of this matter, but many many thanks for all your advice.

dubrov

Your solicitor is twisting things.

The CPO question is asked in relation to CPOs issued but not yet executed on the folio.

In this case the answer was correctly no as there was no further CPO on the folio.

Vetch

Walker63 wrote: »

Thanks for all the support.

And yes we love a wee house and moved already in.

After re reading all the sollicitor work, it is unfortunatly marked that before buying, the buyers need to carry out a planning search in order to see if there is any road develompent. So our sollicitor is saying this as well and we signed the contract that day. So we can't blaim on him because he did his job, he checked who was the owner of both folio, but not where were they on the map ( I admit the land registry map is precisie enough, we really though it was the road)

The sollicitor is Local, he even worked with other farmers that there land was bought for the construction of the road, so he new that we were close the new road, but not they were extending our (well I think he wasn't aware).

Yes every one in the transaction knew we were French (bonjour bonjour) and my wife American, and it's our first ever buying of a house.

Before buying we followed advice from the auctionneer and sollicitor to bring an engineer to survey the house by it self (since it was a 1900 based cottage, it was compulsory for the bank) not for boundaries, because we never new that is was actually behind the wall, we had confident in our sollicitor that he would know those kind of stuff.

Any ways we will see the sollicitor this monday and update you on what is happening.

Thanks again for all the information but I'm not sure it will go far. And we are just hoping it will not damage our wee house

My only knowledge of buying houses is buying my own but it's funny the difference between solicitors. Mine showed me the folio map and asked if it was the right property and boundaries looked as they should. She also insisted on seeing the engineer's report and the only sentence she had any real interest in was the one where he said that the boundaries on the ground match the folio map.

JustAThought

Vetch wrote: »

My only knowledge of buying houses is buying my own but it's funny the difference between solicitors. Mine showed me the folio map and asked if it was the right property and boundaries looked as they should. She also insisted on seeing the engineer's report and the only sentence she had any real interest in was the one where he said that the boundaries on the ground match the folio map.

That is the oldest trick in the book for lazy shoddy workers atrempting to cover themselves - For a solicitor it is utterly unaccpetable. S/he asked you and you your reply s/he signed.you up?absolutely unacceptable and utterly sharp trading (illegal and unprofessional and bdringing the profession into disrepute).S/he was paid to do.due dilligence and provide prooer professional services to.you - not to ask you what you think. Absolutely sunstandard work and hiding a multitude. Prior knowledge and conflict of unterest -absolutely - unprofessuonal and sunsstandard dilligence - absolutely - totally unaccetable. But.you seem.determined.to accept.it and wishy washy away and let her get away with it. Its so damaging and dissappointing - And sets the next victim.up to be robbed and taken advantage of too. 😡

uck51js9zml2yt

My surveyor told me there was a bit of land outside the boundary that was mine when buying. My solicitor also checked it out.
I'm still not sure where it is but I've enough to go with and moving hedges is messy.