Hi i have a friend in his 70´s that bought a country plot with permission to build a house on it.
The plans were approved by the town hall and everything was done above board.
However here the problem.
My friend was pursuaded by the estate agent (who also has the contract to build the house and sub contracted this to a builder) to use his cousin as solicitor. The solicitor has ´lost´the deed to the land so can my friend get a copy?
Secondly the builder has walked off site with work still to complete saying he has not been paid for six months despite my friend paying the estate agent all the stage payments except for the final payment. The agent got another set of builders in to finish off but they also left due to none payment.
Does the builders who are owed money have any claim on my friends house or property? or is his claim solely against the agent who has not done his end of the bargain?
My friend was given the keys by the agent and told just to move in (the house is already 15 months late) he has no paperwork to say there is a house on the land or that he owns it.The only paperwork he had the deeds of the land the solicitor lost!
He is obviously going out of his mind and receiving calls from local neighbours saying the agent has or is about to go bust and he does not know where to turn.The agent does not answer calls or reply to emails.
Can anyone suggest anything? My friend is trying to sort out an alternative solicitor but wants to know if he can do anything quickly to protect himself before it´s to late.