Buyer might loose deposit

Send them this meme.

 

Well, you'd want a very high standard of proof that the purchaser was incapacitated etc when they contracted to purchase the property but I don't think you could hold the same standards as required under S38 of the Mental Health Act (for a criminal matter).

 

I think he was more pertaining to the fact that 'as a solicitor' and 'knowing his own mental health' he should be able to 'advise himself' that he is unfit to enter into a legally binding contract due to mental health concerns.

My take anyway.

 

The solicitor is taking the ****. Absolutely disgusting.

 

A solicitors job is to represent their client. The courts job is to determine who tells the most realistic and believable set of facts - Or find somewhere in between.

 

It's a tricky situation and there are multiple nuances . As a GP I'm probably more aware than most of extent of mental illness in the community . The stat is 1 in 3 get it at some time .

Cliff

 

A solicitor who represents himself has a fool for a client. Or so I am told.

 

They're not representing themselves . They've brought in what appears to be heavy weight representation .

It's easy to speculate at this stage , but yesterday, when our solicitor first raised this I suggested a possible scenario and it sounds as though that is what is happening.

Their actions would be consistent , but may have been triggered by buying rather than causing it . Our solicitor is more cynical .... and says they've seen everything

My best guesstimate is that they working at the time and were quite capable in their job and quite capable when they signed the contract , but it's all fallen apart since then and are looking for a way out .

It sounds as though they are well of their condition and what it can lead to and should have known better , in particular in signing an unconditional contract.

They have apparently had recurring problems so it's not as though this is a new diagnosis . My gut feeling is if we did go ahead with legal action we'd win , but as with the vast majority of legal action , there are no winners ...

Our solicitor said their litigation dept would be more than willing to " help us " but strongly advised against it .

Cliff

 

A lot depends on the size of the deposit relative to possible legal costs, which can climb remarkably quickly.

$100+K may be worth fighting for, $30K may not.

 

A negotiated deal may also put the pressure on them and curtail the costs. It may fix their loss where a court proceeding may expand into a higher loss if resale cant be achieved at same price. Their personal asset position is a bargaining point. Solicitors who are bankrupt or undergoing a related event arent capable of practice. If they are a partner in practice it may explain their apparent defensive stance.

Offences and show cause events | The Law Society of NSW

 

The client is a solicitor

 

What kind of settlement can you reach without going to court?

 

The only two that I can think of at the top of my head: Uniform or differential settlement?

 

lol. What I was getting at is I would rather reach a settlement than go to court

 

It's too late at night

 

At the moment , part of me wants to go ahead with legal action , even though it’s not the logical action. To date we’ve never been involved in any legal action outside routine matters and I’m tempted to say what the heck and do it for the experience as well as for the negotiating view point .

actually in three occasions I have been called as a witness and on each occasion my evidence was key to one side winning , so apparently I present well in court .

What they’ve done it is incredibly annoying and inconvenient , and I have the feeling that they might have done similar before and used this as an excuse to get out of things rather than taking responsibility for their actions . Every thing seemed to fall into place very quickly in terms of the steps they took and the first steps their new legal person seemed aimed at intimidating rather than conciliatory .

Might be a good learning experience them , though it might turn out to be the same for us .....

Cliff

 

We had a brief flirtation with legal action before we pulled the plug.

We were shocked at the billing.
It seemed that when things at the office were a bit slow, they called a “meeting” to “discuss our case”. We were billed for all attending.
Then, weekly, there was an internal session to “refresh their notes”. We were billed.
Every phone call, note taken - more billing.
Crunch came when they wanted us to participate in the (unquoted) costs of a trip to Sydney to “discuss various cases, including yours”.
We bailed.

As it was an employment issue we defaulted to the basic free service from the union.

In the end, we achieved our desired result.

I acknowledge we may not have achieved the end result without the initial support of a top legal firm, but the cost was far in excess of what we were led to believe and the bills racked up so quickly.

There is a reason for the old saying that the only winners in court cases are the lawyers.

Proceed with caution.

 

Thanks for that Marg.

We are

Cliff

 

I am not a litigation lawyer, but would think most of the costs would be initially bourne by the otherside to commence proceedings, that might give you some leverage ability to offer a compromise

 

100%. The solicitor knows this and is intentionally using something subjective like mental health to play games and strengthen their bargaining position. The solicitor was only willing to return 1/3 of the deposit after trying to withdraw from an UNCONDITIONAL offer.