Conveyancing makes up a third of all legal complaints
The Legal Ombudsman’s annual report reveals that as many as a third (33%) of all legal complaints are about conveyancing.
Chief Legal Ombudsman Paul McFadden has revealed that a third of all complaints about legal services concern conveyancing, describing it as ‘not a positive picture’.
The Ombudsman’s annual report reveals that poor communication (24.1%), delays (22.7%) and lack of advice (18.6%) are the main bugbears.
The resolution process was in slightly better territory, with the majority (54.1%) happy with their legal providers’ own handling of complaints, although 45.9% were not.
Many of these complaints could have been prevented.”
The Ombudsman gives the case of the anonymous Mr G as an example of the type of complaints they receive from the sector.
Mr G instructed a conveyancing firm to complete a leasehold property purchase. Over a year after the purchase was complete, he contacted the firm as the property management company were chasing him for service charges and outstanding ground rent that were due before he owned the property.
When Mr G challenged the charges with the property management company, he was informed that the ground rent was £300 per year. He was surprised because he thought the firm had told him that the ground rent was peppercorn.
He also located a deed of variation, which he did not see at the time of purchasing the property, and this mentioned that the ground rent would increase on a sliding scale.
Mr G said he would not have purchased the property if he had known this as he would not be able to sell the property later if he wished.
Failed to advise
He complained that the firm failed to advise him of the deed of variation and that it also failed to advise him of the outstanding fees on the property and did not make arrangements to resolve this.
The Ombudsman upheld both complaints. Chief Ombudsman, Paul McFadden, said: “Many of these complaints could have been prevented or resolved without us. And where we need to investigate in more depth, our data doesn’t paint a positive picture. It’s also disappointing we’re not seeing change or improvement in the types of issues consumers are raising.”
