PI insurers are still seeing a significant number of claims relating to mortgage redemption statements.
A
leading insurer recently advised me of a case where the solicitor was
completing the sale of his clients' property, on which he knew there
were two charges. He had obtained statements on each charge, and on the
day of completion he asked a junior colleague to phone the bank for a
final figure. His colleague only saw one of the two statements on the
file, and the solicitor had not warned her that there were two charges.
When he was given the redemption figure, he did not check that the
figure included both. He paid the bank the amount that his colleague had
been told, and paid the balance to his client, you can guess the rest.
To
avoid this type of problem you should use a system like COMPLETIONmonitor which can only be signed off by the lawyer.
Alternatively, mark the file clearly to show what charges are on a
property, together with account numbers. Where possible, get redemption
figures in writing from the lender, and always check that all charges
have been included. More importantly, do not delegate crucial tasks to a
colleague without giving a full explanation of what is needed and
without allowing time to check that they have understood your
instructions.
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