The Gazette 1972

"Go-it-alone" House Buyer agrees to use Solicitor

Delays due to town council's requirements He admitted that there had been delays in the case but claimed these were due to the council's require- ment. "If Mr. Pridmore says he has paid rent he should not have done we will look into it and compensate him." It would not be proper for the council's lawyers hav- ing drawn up the abstract as seller to verify it as mortgagee, he claimed. A purchaser acting for himself would have to get a solicitor to verify the abstract and pay him just for that or instruct lawyers acting for the council as mortgagee to do it for him at a fee, he said. In recent years the Law Society, the solicitors' govern- ing body, has kept up a running battle with the National House Owners' Society and has warned of dangers of entrusting conveyancing transactions to "unqualified conveyancers". Last November, a High Court action brought on behalf of the Law Society against Mr. Carter was settled alter Mr. Carter gave an undertaking that he would not prepare conveyancing documents for "fee, gain or reward" contrary to the Solicitors' Act. This protects the monopoly of solicitors in conveyancing. Daily Telegraph (19th September 1972)

The man who had been told he would lose his £708 deposit and the chance to buy his three-bedroom coun- cil house unless a solicitor signed one of the convey- ancing documents bowed yesterday to the council's demands. Mr. John Pridmore, a factory worker, of Saint Alban's, withdrew the transaction from the National House Owners' Society, which had been acting for him, and put it in the hands of a solicitor for completion. The Luton solicitor now acting for him, who asked not to be named, said he had agreed to take the case free of charge on condition Mr. Pridmore paid to charity the difference between what he paid the society and the scale fee that would have been charged by a solicitor. Mr. Pridmore has paid £35 to the society for acting or him and £33 as fees for the council which is pro- viding him with a mortgage. Solicitors' scale charges for the sale of a £4,000 house with unregistered title are £60. St. Alban's Council had not allowed the sale to be completed unless a solicitor had verified that photostat copies and extracts of title deeds which they had sent to Mr. Pridmore as the "abstract of title" corresponded to the original title deeds still in their possession. The National House Owners Society maintained that the documents could be verified by anyone, not neces- sarily a solicitor. St. Alban's Council insisted that it should be a solicitor. Threat to lose deposit and purchase of house They warned Mr. Pridmore that if he fails to com- plete the transaction within a month he would lose his deposit and the chance to buy the house. Last night Mr. Sydney Carter, founder of the National House Owners' Society, said that as Mr. Pridmore had been in danger of losing the house and his deposit they had already sent a draft for the £3,400 outstanding to the council and asked them to sell the house to the society. He had also included an open cheque for up to £100 to cover any incidental expenses. "We can sort out Mr. Pridmore's mortgage later." Mr. John Jeffrey, the council's deputy clerk, said the council would not be able to sell the house to the House Owners' Society. "It is a council house and subject to all sorts of conditions." He defended the council's requirement that the docu- ments would only be certified by a solicitor. When the council was granting a mortgage and the purchaser was represented by an outside solicitor, it was this solicitor's responsibility to verify the abstract of title and they would accept his verification. Mr. Carter, who has described the council's attitude as "ridiculous" and as an attempt to extend the soli- citors' monopoly in conveyancing, said he was sorry Mr. Pridmore had decided to withdraw the case from them. "People are not prepared to fight the establishment as much as we are. They just want things to go smoothly. I can understand their point of view."

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