Conveyancing legal advice

[TDYER63]

Wondering if anyone can give some advice here. My daughter put in an offer on a house just over a month ago. A few people were interested in the property , it didnt go to an official closing date, each interested party put in their bid and she was successful . The sellers estate agent confirmed this and my daughters lawyer followed up with a written offer the following day to the sellers lawyer. 

Four weeks later there was still no written acceptance so she forced their hand by saying she was considering withdrawing. This is the last thing she wanted to do as she and her boyfriend  had their heart set on the house, but she wanted to force a response as they have sold their flat and out of it early June.

They got a response from the sellers lawyer saying the seller requires a guardianship and the sale is going to take 6-12 months. At no time has this been communicated. To make matters worse there was another house they could have bought but they walked away from it as they preferred this one. 

They are gutted. Their solicitor had been in regular contact with the sellers solicitor and they have never intimidated there could be a problem. Until this last week my daughter had been in contact with the sellers estate agent but she is no longer responding. 

Because nothing has been signed I doubt they are likely to be compensated , but surely this house sale should never have taken  place ? Even if , giving them the  benefit of the doubt , the sellers situation has only developed since the verbal offer was accepted, their solicitor surely had to make this known immediately, rather than wait for my daughter to put pressure on ? 

Any advice on what , if anything, they can do would be much appreciated. I have every sympathy for the sellers condition but this has effectively left my daughter without a home, her mortgage offer will expire and she will have storage costs for their furniture.   
 

 

[Ally Bongo]

The sellers lawyer should not have put the property up for sale if there was a guardianship order requirement and there was none in place 

I would imagine she will have a case against the sellers lawyer for timewasting and costs

[TDYER63]

2 hours ago, Ally Bongo said:

The sellers lawyer should not have put the property up for sale if there was a guardianship order requirement and there was none in place 

I would imagine she will have a case against the sellers lawyer for timewasting and costs

Thanks All. I cannot believe it got to this stage without the lawyer being aware of the sellers situation .

This was the 5 th house they had tried to buy , they were outbid in the other 4 and worrying they were not going to get a house,  they were so happy to get this 😕

[Ally Bongo]

24 minutes ago, TDYER63 said:

Thanks All. I cannot believe it got to this stage without the lawyer being aware of the sellers situation .

This was the 5 th house they had tried to buy , they were outbid in the other 4 and worrying they were not going to get a house,  they were so happy to get this 😕

The first thing the seller's lawyer should have asked is "Is the house yours"

If the answer is no then the next question should have been "Do you have lasting power of attorney"

If the answer to that is no then the next question is " Do you have consent from the public guardian"

https://www.publicguardian-scotland.gov.uk/guardianship-orders/following-a-guardianship-order/heritable-property

Also

If your estate agent has failed in their duty of care to you and you have lost out as a result, you might be able to make a professional negligence claim. Speak to an experienced solicitor for more information.