Grow Your Own Magazine

I was supposed to be exchanging on a plot of land 9 weeks ago.

There's problems with ownership that wasn't identified by the solicitors until the day of the exchange when the money had been transferred. Got the money back the same day but have been able to do nothing for over 2 months. Got the architects plans for my new house sitting in the kitchen drawer gathering dust but not going to bother lodging them with the council Planning Dept until this gets sorted out.

I'm fed up, I just want my plot of land, I don't want to have to go and sue them for Breach of Contract and to reimburse me for all my costs. I just want to build my new home.

Keep visualising yourself in your new home, happy, send it out to the universe, it'll happen girl!! Try to stay positive.

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Imagination is everything, it is a preview of what is to become.

I've been taking it all on the chin thus far, but this morning I took the pooches out for a walk and one of them decided to take himself off for a trot on his own. He wandered into someones back yard and she came out and gave me a row. I explained that I'd been trying to catch him but she was a bit of a 'nippy sweetie' so I just came back home and cried. Not like me at all, not a good day.

I'm going to make a cuppa and have a bit of my homemade fudge.

Hi Amanda

Sorry to hear your having problems. Hopefully they will be resolved quickly and you can get on with your plans. Enjoy your cuppa and fudge, I'll join you with a coffee and choccy biccy.

Tracey

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Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

Michael Pollan

poor you! What's a nippy sweetie? Hope the fudge helps!

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Imagination is everything, it is a preview of what is to become.

A 'Nippy Sweetie' is Scots for a sharp or sour sweet, or a sour faced person. So you could say 'She was a right nippy sweetie'

down here she'd be a miserable cow!

We call those sort of sweets winky sweets cause they make you wink!!

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Imagination is everything, it is a preview of what is to become.

nippie sweetie sounds quite nice!

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Andrea :wavehello

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...logs/zazen999/

moon trials completed:
tomatoes
[46% increase in crop per seed sown and 10% increase in crop per plant]

currently underway:
calabrese
garlic

http://linearlegume.blogspot.com/

Hound your solicitor, I assume as yet you have only paid them a deposit, and they don't get the remainder until after completion? I'm not a big fan of solicitors, we can't do without them, but boy do they drag things out unnecessarily. A good friend of mine when receiving the solicitors quote always says, there is an extra ??? in it for you if you can complete within 4 weeks. Seems to work for him!!

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Gardening is the grandfather of Rock and Roll, its all about sex and drugs.

Scots law means that you don't have to pay a deposit. When the sale has been agreed verbally it becomes legally binding for both parties.

The plot I am buying was gifted to the seller by his Grandfather before his death. It turned out that an estranged Uncle may have a claim due to the fact that the previous solicitor failed to dissolve the ownership/partnership of the Grandfather and his Son before it was gifted to the Grandson, Phew!

So, it means that the seller and his solicitor have to obtain Indemnity Insurance against the Uncle staking a claim within the next 2 years and it's taking forever.

You can do indemnity insurance online so, I guess someone in the chain is seriously dragging heels, that the problem with summer holidays, solicitors are allowed them!!

Do you think that both solicitors now realise there's more work involved than was quoted for, and as such are not really giving it their full attention?

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Gardening is the grandfather of Rock and Roll, its all about sex and drugs.

i'm not keen on solicitors ....
a friend asked what my dad did for a living
"bank manager" i said
" really?" he said
"Yup" i said
"what does your dad do then?" i asked
"he's a solicitor" my friend replied
"honest?" i asked
"no" he said, "just the regular type"

boom boom.....

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Imagination is everything, it is a preview of what is to become.

Quite good for a bad joke, lol.

Chased him up again today, he's just back from a long weekend. He called the sellers solicitor today and he was out of the office so he's dictated a letter. Drives me nuts, they post everything and their offices are across the road from each other, if they folded into a paper aeroplane they could chuck it out the window and it would get there.

Seller has been having a bit of a moan about the fact that he's been told by his solicitor that his bill would increase and that he would have to foot the bill for the indemnity insurance. Tough, it'll be a hell of a lot cheaper than me sueing for my architects fees/valuers fee/site survey/costs/inconvenience/interest/loan arrangement fee/legal fees/land searches, etc.

Ok, rant over.

"When the sale has been agreed verbally it becomes legally binding for both parties."

I think down south we've all heard about this binding verbal business and understand how important it is not to commit to anything by word that could be construed as an offer to buy!

Thinking worst case scenario and it drags on too long - would you perhaps be able to legally look elsewhere and have your verbal commitment annulled on the basis that the seller may not be legally entitled to sell the land at the time of the agreement?

Even though well-intended on both sides - the seller perhaps might have a case against the solicitors who transferred ownership of the land without properly disolving previous joint ownerships properly.

It sounds a right complicated business. I can only hope that you get satisfaction in due course and a lovely home. Meantime your solicitor is there to WORK for you - make him/her earn the fee.

Yup, you're right.

I can pull out anytime and have full legal recourse against the seller, ie, I can sue him for all costs, etc. Because his Grandfathers solicitor screwed up re the transfer of ownership/disolving the partnership with the estranged son, he could then be sued, sheesh!

They original solicitor used to be a client of mine, and he's a lovely chap, but not great at dotting the 'i' and crossing the 't's', it transpires that he gets sued all the time, oh dear.

solicitors do take ages.

i was a Legal Sec in a previous life, with a permanent pile of red files at my desk. If a client rang up, his file would be pulled out of the pile & worked on. If he didn't ring up, it would stay in the pile.

The squeakiest wheel gets the oil x

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

Then in that case Two Sheds, 'Squeak Squeak'.

I was a legal sec in conveyancing, commerical and residential, i know what you mean, everything is a constant drag! but it is better to be sorted now than later or it would be a right headache for you.

I hope you get answers soon, i would be jumping up and down as well x

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Gardening - A labour of love that begins with daybreak and ends with backache!
http://clarkiesveggieblog.blogspot.com/

Sorry to hear about the legal problems - I hope they get sorted soon.

On a more positive note - what a fantastic position to be in. I'd love to be able to build my own house - so I am really pleased for you (and said with just the tiniest hint of green envy in my voice)

The company I work for deals with a lot of national house builders and we quite often get involved in technical design issues.

One at the moment is the argument about the level of insulation.

Given the ever increasing price of energy, should the house be designed to satisfy only the minimum requirements of the Building Regulations or as extra insulation is relatively cheap to install during the build should the new home be designed with this in mind and insulated to a higher standard?

Once you get to this detailed decision stage, it is worth looking up the "Lifetime Homes" standard which at the moment is voluntary - but is likely to be a minimum requirement in a few years time. There are a couple of things in this new standard which may be of interest to you in the long term (subject to your needs) and would be very cost efficient to include at the design stage but which would cost thousands to include retrospectively.

The Lifetime Home owners I have spoken to, praise their design flexibility and layout. Your architect should be able to point you in the right direction on this - as you can't include this design after the event now is the time to think about it.

Good Luck with the solicitor and the design issues.

Good luck and i hope all is sorted out soon, I know what solicitors are like they "overlooked" paying off the mortgage on our previous house when we moved, first we knew of it was when we got a letter saying we were two months behind on our mortgage we did however get a small payment for worry and inconveniance caused!!

Thanks Coomber, this is the 3rd solicitor I've gone through in a year, I'm obviously very unlucky. You really have to keep your eye on the ball don't you? The last one we used forgot to register our deeds and as far as the Records Office in Edinburgh were concerned, we didn't exist, jeez. The one before that didn't get our money to us for 5 weeks after completion of the sale.

Johnny, I renovate for a living, and still dream of insulation after the one I've just finished - 3 floors of cutting Kingspan Sheets by myself before the joiners put up the plasterboard. I absolutely love it.

What a bummer Amanda. I know what Solicitors are like. I could type on here for the rest of my life about how inefficient they are - I just don't know how they get away with it. If I had ever been as negligent as they are I would have been in Cornton Vale for sure.
Just keep on the case, phone them up and pester them. It's the only way you get anything done. Write stating your dissatisfaction and that you will be seeking a reduced settlement. You might get the fee halved - I did.
And , i