Solicitor effectively gone AWOL

tails_naf

My brother has been having a nightmare with a solicitor who he had engaged to handle the purchase of an apartment 7 years ago. A mortgage was not involved, so the solicitor was only required to handle the sale, land /property registry, etc. The issue is, 7 years later the land registry has still not been competed, and my bother is concerned it will never get done. The solicitor in question had his own practice originally, but that apparently folded. My brother has managed to track him down multiple times over the years, each time he is working at some other practice. Each time he says he'll get it handlded, but never does. Rinse and repeat. What course of action do we have? He's tempted to contact his current employer to apply pressure that way, but it seems like a nuclear option.

would he not just get another solicitor if even at the same firm this clown is currently at?

Fact is that guy is clearly not going to do anything. It says a lot that he had his own firm and has been located at a new one, seemingly without warning, several times over the last seven years.

tails_naf

I completely agree the signs are obvious this guy is not trustworthy, but no idea if another solicitor can or would take it on, especially if something is half in motion. So just lookign for any and all options of what the next step should be

Cushie Butterfield

I'd contact the Law Society if I were him.

tails_naf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119928240#Comment_119928240

What wouls the law society do in a case like this, can they compel the solicitor to take action?

Marcusm

It’s the Legal Services Regulatory Authority at this stage and he should be sanctioned. Prior to closing his practice he should have made arrangements to complete or have someone else complete any outstanding work unless the client appointed another solicitor. Has your brother done a search on the property to ensure that it has not been registered since the original transaction. Specifically in this case to ensure that it has not been registered in the name of the solicitor or a related party which has raised finance against it?

it’s not unusual to have legal work delayed or to get to the bottom of a pile. However, for a relatively minor task of completing the registration not to have been completed while the solicitor has moved jobs several times. I had a friend who suffered at the hands of a solicitor once who had been misappropriating the stamp duty money meaning that they were never in a position to register a sale.

one way to check if stamp duty was paid is to check the property price register. If it cannot be located there and a land search shows up no transactions then I would worry.

tails_naf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119931058#Comment_119931058

Thanks. Christ thats horrible what happened your friend. Sorry to be dumb, but how do you do a search to confirm it has not been registered under another name?

Lenar3556

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119937302#Comment_119937302

Landdirect.ie

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€5

NUTLEY BOY

I would be curious to know if the solicitor was disciplined by being prohibited from running their own practice and required to work under the supervision of other solicitor(s).

Marcusm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119937302#Comment_119937302

The solicitor (a personal friend of my friend) was jailed and the Law Soc compo fund paid the stamp duty. Just log on tonLand Direct or similar and identify the holding (if it’s registered land). Simplest however is to do the PPR search first.