Lawyers ****ing me around

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fdaniels

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So I bought a house mid 2012. The transfer and bond registration lawyers kept messing around. I probably had to go to the bond registration lawyers about 4/5 times to resign documents because they made omissions, or errors on the forms, or the forms were just mislaid. This obviously resulted in the transfer taking way longer than it should, way longer.

At this point the transfer lawyers wanted to blame everything on my wife and I even though we didn't do anything wrong. They told us that it was "our" lawyers that messed up, despite the fact that we were also paying THEM and the bank basically told us who the bond registration lawyers were; we didn't choose them.

The transfer lawyers then wanted to bully us into moving in and pay occupation rent. I stood my ground and refused. I was happy to wait for everything to go through and for us to move in as owners. We received multiple phone calls about this matter from both the lawyers and estate agents.

Anyway, eventually they gave up on pestering us and the registration went through. We moved in and have been happily paying our bond and living in our new home.

Fast forward to now. So I received a phone call from the transfer lawyers yesterday saying that the 'deed of sale' papers went missing. They claim that it was lost by the bond registration lawyers and that my wife and I both need to come to their office to sign a form that requests a new 'deed of sale' be issued.

1. WTF does that have to do with me?
2. Why do I need to sign this form?

They also tell me that we have to come in to their offices Mon-Fri between 8am and 5pm. Erm ... don't they realise that I have to be at work during those hours. Can I tell them that they have to bring the forms to my office so that I don't have to take time off work?

What a bunch of ****ers.
 
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Tell them they must bring the forms to you at a time that suits you.

I had an issue with my transferring attorney and she tried once to screw me around. I very quickly put her in her place, and deducted R1000 from her fee (by charging her for my time, at R500 an hour). It was amazing how good she became at that point.
 
ToxicBunny said:
Tell them they must bring the forms to you at a time that suits you.

I had an issue with my transferring attorney and she tried once to screw me around. I very quickly put her in her place, and deducted R1000 from her fee (by charging her for my time, at R500 an hour). It was amazing how good she became at that point.
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Good idea actually, it's not like it's abnormal for them to charge for every second they spend on you and any phone call they have to make.

Start nailing these guys. Losing documentation is completely unacceptable. The whole transfer process should be pretty painless, not this much of a chore. We saw our lawyers only once during the entire thing, and that was to sign the documents.
 
Every attorney hasa Docex courier account. Tell them to courier the docs to you for signing and to arrange that they are collected and returned on their Docex account.
 
Messugga said:
Good idea actually, it's not like it's abnormal for them to charge for every second they spend on you and any phone call they have to make.

Start nailing these guys. Losing documentation is completely unacceptable. The whole transfer process should be pretty painless, not this much of a chore. We saw our lawyers only once during the entire thing, and that was to sign the documents.
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Don't get me wrong, it was a fight to charge her the R1000, she didn't just roll over and accept it. Ended up with me threatening her with my real attorneys, but it became about the principal of the thing eventually.
 
etwylite said:
Every attorney hasa Docex courier account. Tell them to courier the docs to you for signing and to arrange that they are collected and returned on their Docex account.
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That too.

The bond registration attorneys made very good use of their Docex account with me, and I was very happy with their service.. not with their bill, but still not much I could do about it.
 
They or the Deeds Office must have lost your Title Deed and now need to apply for a certified copy.

I agree that they must make a plan to get the document to you for signature but it will have to be signed in front of a Commissioner of Oaths.
 
bokka1 said:
They or the Deeds Office must have lost your Title Deed and now need to apply for a certified copy.

I agree that they must make a plan to get the document to you for signature but it will have to be signed in front of a Commissioner of Oaths.
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Still the attorney's problem to make a plan, they get paid ridiculous fees...

If it involves an attorney driving out to his office, then so be it.
 
Also, attorneys appointed by the bank have to follow strict rules. If you complain to your bank about them, they literaaly run to your door.

One bad review and the bank will stop using them.
 
If they've lost the title deeds...to get a legal certified copy again cost around R 1 200.00 (2010 pricing); don't know what it stands at now - but who's going to pay for it..mkhan is correct, write a letter of complaint to your bank, and get an acknowledgement of receipt! They'll literally jump to serve you. I had an issue with ABSA appointed attorney handling my property affairs & they weren't responding to my email requests. Sent my business account manager an email & deeds were sorted out within 48 hours.
 
Thanks for the advice guys. Also good to hear that there may be costs involved. They are mad if they expect me to pay for it. I think I will give the bank a call, and then call them to get this mess sorted out.
 
fdaniels said:
Thanks for the advice guys. Also good to hear that there may be costs involved. They are mad if they expect me to pay for it. I think I will give the bank a call, and then call them to get this mess sorted out.
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Finally.....

You are thinking. You pay the bank a lot of money, let them earn it by sorting the mess.
 
ChilliGirl said:
Why should he have to pay for something the supposed lodging lawyers throw away?
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I did not say he must pay it, further up in the thread Mitos said it costs R1200.00.

I agree that the lawyer must get in his car and drive to the OP to get the application for a certified copy signed.
 
bokka1 said:
I did not say he must pay it, further up in the thread Mitos said it costs R1200.00.

I agree that the lawyer must get in his car and drive to the OP to get the application for a certified copy signed.
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Only if it does not state HE must pay Rxxxx

Coz else he could land up with letters of demand etc.
 
He never said that the lawyers are charging him anything.

Why would they?
 
Interesting. I asked the lawyers to bring the papers to the office and they agreed, immediately. I didn't even have to put up a fight. Surprising. I will see if they want me to pay anything, but it doesn't seem that way.
 
fdaniels said:
Interesting. I asked the lawyers to bring the papers to the office and they agreed, immediately. I didn't even have to put up a fight. Surprising. I will see if they want me to pay anything, but it doesn't seem that way.
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Maybe one of the "lawyers" is a member here :p
 
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