Professional Negligence Experts - Conveyancing issue help!

[J_S_G]

Hi all,

Could do with a bit of help in terms of a professional negligence expert/someone up to speed on conveyancing/etc...

Turns out there's a big-ass sewer (technical term) in my back garden - 525mm public sewer, no more than a few metres from the back of the property, approx 4m depth. This came to light after having spent thousands on architects, engineering consultants, planning permission, builders, plumbers, electricians, etc. Turns out that I can't extend the property without encroaching on the sewer, which is vetoed by the Water Board.

I told the solicitor when purchasing last year that I was solely buying to extend, and I have a breakdown of their costs that includes a line item for "Local Searches/Drainage Search". They admitted last week (verbally only) that this was never carried out, and there is no mention of a sewer at all in their final report, let alone one crossing my garden within about 5-6m of my house. The specific solicitor who dealt with my conveyancing has since left that company, for info.

Could do with finding some decent legal eagle to sort this out for me, I think; I'd never have bought this property if I couldn't extend it, and am a good five figure sum out of pocket already, with the house in a state that's not resaleable as it stands (think building site!). And lets not even start on how uncharacteristically stressed this currently has me!

Can anybody help/offer any sagely words of advice!?!?

Many thanks in advance...

[johnfm]

can't help, but good luck. I have a less troublesome 'st conveyance' issue to deal with, but yours is serious. Sounds like you need to convince them that their cheapest option will be to pay for the re-routing or strengtheningof part of the sewer.

[J_S_G]

Thanks, John. Good luck to you, too - houses are stressful enough without those that are happy to take the rather sizeable cheques from you stuffing up and not making amends!

Couple of other bits of info:

• There's no chance of re-routing the sewer; it runs through my back garden which is penned in on three sides by other peoples gardens, and on the fourth by the back of my house, where I wanted the extension to go. I would need to convince the owner of the sizeable pile behind that he wanted a sewer in HIS back garden, and would also need to dig up both of my neighbours gardens to create the "U" shape necessary for the easement required. That's not going to happen, and United Utilities have said as much.
• There's no chance of extending the property any other way. To one side there's only 1m of space, including the path to the door, and to the other side is the (necessary) garage going up to the boundaries of the property. Building up/above the garage isn't an option, either - planning permission was declined just for a simple roof extension on the grounds that it wasn't in keeping with the other properties (it was a fair comment on their behalf).

So, there's no viable option of finishing the extension. Thinking about it, "stressed" doesn't actually begin to describe it!

Edited by J_S_G on Tuesday 18th March 13:28

[Lurking Lawyer]

My commiseration, JSG - it sounds like a major headache you could do without.

First of all, have a look at your home insurance policy and see whether it includes legal expenses insurance cover. If it does, notify your insurer of the claim and let them pick up the tab for legal fees (assuming it's covered of course - some policies exclude claims against professionals).

I suspect that there's not going to be a short, easy way out of this, unless your solicitors' insurers make an early admission of liability. Even then, I can see there being a major bunfight over what your recoverable loss is.

Depending on whether a claim is brought in contract or tort (negligence), your loss is worked out as being a sum to put you back in the position you would have been in had the contract been properly performed, or if the negligent act had not been committed. Often, they amount to the same thing, but not always.

I don't suppose you ever put into writing to your solicitor that your intention was to extend the property and that this was a fundamentally important issue, did you....? It's not fatal if you didn't, but it would life easier in proving that they know about your specific intent.

If you can show that you had already done preliminary works (eg design, lining up contractor and materials etc) to support your claim that you intended to extend, this will help.

At first blush, I would guess that your recoverable loss is lost profit you might have made in selling the extended property, but if other direct costs arise as a result then in theory these might be recoverable.

Best of luck getting it sorted.

[JustinP1]

J_S_G said:

I told the solicitor when purchasing last year that I was solely buying to extend, and I have a breakdown of their costs that includes a line item for "Local Searches/Drainage Search". They admitted last week (verbally only) that this was never carried out, and there is no mention of a sewer at all in their final report, let alone one crossing my garden within about 5-6m of my house. The specific solicitor who dealt with my conveyancing has since left that company, for info.

This is the key bit IMHO. You have paid them to perform a search, and that is documented. It is obvious that they either did not perform the search or did not read it as of course this would have been highlighted!

It is also of note that the solicitor is no longer at the practice. This is important. When I have been in legal wrangles like this and this has happened to the other party then their willingness to lie down increased somewhat. This is probably due to the fact that the final endgame being court action, they have no witness to back up exactly what has been said or done.

As this claim is likely to be of a considerable amount of money I would have thought they would simply pass it on to their indemnity insurers. As Lurking Lawyer has said a lot of home insurance policies cover legal expenses. I think my policy is for £100k for example. However, as the act of negligence may have been before you were insured under that policy it may not be covered.

If it were me, and I had the cash to do so, I would at this stage get a specialist in. As Lurking Lawyer has said, I would say the minimum you can expect is the direct costs, but I would also say that if the extension was already planned you would also be looking at the profit margin you would have gained from the extension. Above that though, and what would annoy me the most is that you obviously wanted the house to extend it and probably live in it. You probably wont be able to do this in the way you wanted.

I don't know how much this might be valued at, but a specialist will know how much to 'push' for. In my experience where the other party is shafted before they have started, the only way they will want to go to court would be if what you are asking for financially is literally insane. Of course just for them and your solicitor to spend quite a while getting a case together and them coming to court will rack up a five figure bill - and if they can avoid that by paying you what you want they will.