Conduct and service

Deal with it

It is surprising how many solicitors seem to stick their heads in the sand when a complaint is made, presumably in the hope that if they ignore it the problem will go away - but it never does.

This attitude is still more incomprehensible when the complaint could easily have been refuted.

After all, if the complainant refers the matter to the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors (OSS), the solicitors concerned will be ordered to pay compensation to the complainant.

Failure to deal properly with a complaint, whether or not it is justified, represents inadequate service and will attract a compensatory payment.

More importantly, any such matter that is referred to the OSS now also attracts a costs order against the offending solicitor of up to 840.

Even if the solicitor's service is found to be adequate, that will not stop the costs order if the actual complaint had not been dealt with in a reasonable way.

Such were the circumstances that involved a retainer to purchase a shared-ownership leasehold property.

The problem arose over stamp duty.

The information available at the outset led the solicitors to believe that no duty would be payable.

Later, it appeared that might not be the case.

The solicitors told the client there may be some duty, but only a small amount.

The Stamp Office then demanded a substantial sum - but it got it wrong as well.

The position was complicated.

It took much negotiation to agree the correct position - but a three-figure sum was still payable.

Of course, the property could not be registered while all this correspondence with the Stamp Office was going on.

Later, the client complained about the solicitor wrongly quoting the stamp duty position and delaying the registration of title.

It was maintained that these complaints, on the test of what was reasonable, were not justified.

However, the client had first raised his complaint just after the stamping position had been agreed.

No response was sent by the solicitor, so five weeks later the client sent a reminder.

Still no response was forthcoming and months later the client sent another reminder.

After a further month without response, the client took the matter to the OSS.

Now the failure to deal with the complaint was added as a third complaint - the only one that was justified.

Every case before the adjudication panel is decided on its individual facts.

This case study is for illustration only and should not be treated as a precedent

LawyerlineFacing a service complaint? Need advice on how to handle it? Contact Mike Frith at LAWYERLINE, the support service offered by the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors, tel: 0870 606 2588.