Recently we completed a remortgage with the Woolwich on a fees-free deal.
The trouble started when the acting solicitors, in this case Hammonds Direct, went ahead and completed without advising clients that there was a redemption charge on the existing mortgage, and had they waited until the end of the month this would not applied.
As you can imagine, our client was not happy when he found he had been charged £724.61. Several communications to Hammonds Direct from the client followed, all without any admission of responsibility on their part.
The client then contacted the Law Society, which agreed he had not received due care and should be entitled to compensation. However this is where the trouble comes. As the Woolwich instructed Hammond Direct and not the client, the client has no redress under current legislation because he is not the client of Hammond Direct and therefore the Law Society is unable to pay compensation. Consequently the Financial Services Authority (FSA) advised the client that as this is not a financial issue, the client has no redress under current legislation from the regulators standpoint.
To sum up, if a broker advises a client to use a lender’s fees free legal service and there is a problem, the client appears to fall between these two stalls and has no right to compensation.
I am pleased to report after informing the Woolwich of this situation it did reimburse the client, but this whole process took almost six months.
Timus Little B.A. Ce
Via e-mail
