Interest on Money in Client Account

weshtawake

A solicitor is holding €17500 in his Client Account. He has confirmed that he indeed has the money and it has been in his possession for approx. 12 years - it is a deposit for a site purchase which was never completed.

My question is am I entitled to interest on this money in addition to the principal??

Ta

If the money was earning interest, yes generally you would expect to benefit from that.

I can't imagine it earned much if any interest since 2010 - solicitor client accounts were being charged negative interest rates until recently.

L1011

It is illegal for a client account to accrue interest so there is nothing for you to seek to get.

But anyway, as above, if you tried to get prevailing interest rates for that time period you'd end up with less money anyway.

Marcusm

Can you cite the law on that? Has the 2014 Solicitors Accounts Regulations been rescinded? Any interest credited must be moved from the client account but the solicitor has an obligation to account for any interest received although there are different accounting methods.

reg 8(2) is (or was if it’s been rescinded) fairly clear on this point:

(2) A solicitor to whom these Regulations apply, shall, in respect of client moneys or controlled trust moneys or non-controlled trust moneys or insolvency arrangement moneys received by that solicitor for or on behalf of a client or a controlled trust or a non-controlled trust or an insolvency arrangement,

(I) hold such moneys in an interest bearing account and account for interest thereon while so held; or

(II) account for interest thereon.