Solicitor help please

Provided you paid their fees you are entitled to a copy of the file. It can sometimes take a while (especially with poor firms and one's where they think you might be taking some action against them). Your new solicitor should be able to advise but if you want further information I suggest contacting the law society who regulate solicitors firms.

Thank you. Everything was paid at the time (they took their fee out of the money from our sale) so there's no problem there. I'm fairly sure they are doing it to annoy me actually which was fine for a while but it's getting a bit silly now. I am very tempted to make a compaint to the Law Society and know I wouldn't be the first person to complain about them so feel a bit like there's no point as it'd be a bit of a drop in the ocean but I suppose that's not the attitude I should have ?

In the meantime could you not get help re. boundaries from Land Registry?

I think from the jumbled mess of it all we found out that the house hadn't been registered when we last checked. We bought it as a new build so I think it was to be registered when we bought it so I don't think land reg have the info we need. Whether having the old file will shed any lgiht on anything is anyone's guess. Part of the land has an easement which also is only getting sorted out now it would appear but even the each part of the land with this easement on it is unclear at the minute. I just want to put up a fence and can't ?

Would you like to mail me Jaz? I am a Conveyancer (albeit a SAHM at the moment but I'm up to date on everything)

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IN answer to your questions they are required to keep a purchase file (in its paper entirety) in archive for 12 years so they can't get away with saying they don't have it.

I believe the Land Registry should be able to help you out with boundaries.

When a builder builds a new development they register the entire development - so every house on it - in their name.

Then, as each one is sold they transfer the relevant part out to you - so the Land Registry should have a plan of the development in its entirety with each plot marked upon it. That should solve your boundary issues. In any event the original builders should have kept a copy of the document they signed (and you signed) called the TP1 - I'd be tempted to call the builders and ask them to send you a copy too

Thanks Hecate. The house wasn't part of a development so much as it was one of two houses built on a plot of land in the countryside and the builder is about as useful as the old solicitor [muffled scream]. Although the person that bought the other house used a different solicitor that firm was closed down by the law society during the process of their purchase due to some sort of malpratice so I don't think they have the info either! Last I heard our mortgage company also didn't have the deeds (are they still called deeds?) as old solicitor hadn't sent them in. We're in NI if this makes any difference?

I'm waiting on our current solicitor to phone me back and see what he thinks and then I may email you Hecate, thank you.

Right ok that makes things a bit trickier.

Regarding the other house if a firm is closed by the Law Society its called an intervention (I was part of the panel at my old firm) so another firm of solicitors takes all the files so if they were taken over by another firm then they should have the documentation.

Your mortgage company would only have the Title Information Document - basically they are doing away with paper deeds and having these docs instead. So that is even more of an indication that your old solciitors should still have all the documentation