Conduct_and_serviceGive clients the full pictureThis often results in the client being unaware of such vital facts as exactly what he owns, his rights over adjoining property or vice versa...This often results in the client being unaware of such vital facts as exactly what he owns, his rights over adjoining property or vice versa, or to what he has committed himself in buying the property.

The complaint is made when the issue comes to light, often as a horrible shock, after completion.

A recent complaint to the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors vividly illustrated the problem.

After moving into his new house, Mr T discovered he had a stream of people walking across what he had thought was his front garden, a few feet from his dining room window.It transpired the only plan that Mr T had been sent before completion and, until he raised the complaint, was one prepared by the coal authority attached to a mining search.

It showed the area of land subject to the right of way as within Mr Ts boundary, but did not indicate any right of way over it.

Two other plans existed: one attached to the conveyance which occasioned the first registration of the title, and a Land Registry plan.

Both showed the true position.

Indeed, the former had the words right of way over the relevant area.

The solicitor had not thought to send a copy of either to Mr T.Naturally, having nothing to indicate otherwise, Mr T assumed the one plan he had been sent was accurate and proceeded with the purchase.When Mr T raised the issue, the solicitor demonstrated exactly how not to respond.

He replied that, if he was to deal with these additional matters, he would charge for the work involved and even demanded a payment on account before he would reply.

It didnt help that Mr T had in fact raised the issue with the solicitor before contracts were exchanged, but the query had been ignored.The OSS was not impressed, particularly when the solicitor argued he had dealt with the conveyancing entirely properly and was fully entitled to charge for the additional problem he had been asked to deal with.

The solicitor, still protesting about the unfairness of it all, was ordered to pay 1,000 compensation and to repay the fees charged for the original purchase.l Every case before the compliance and supervision committee is decided on its individual facts.

These case studies are for illustration only and should not be treated as precedents.