Any Lawyers here? Legal question

Peter,

This guy sold to his friend and you think he owes you something? I'm not an attorney, but if a friend wanted my house, I'd prob. cut him a deal. If you realize your not getting the house why don't you just move on? If you had a friend that wanted your house would you sell it to someone else for a few dollars more?

 

If you were in the USA and you are a racial minority or other Federally protected group, you would be GOLDEN in a discrimination suit.

 

Interesting question- here's how i'd analyze it as a US lawyer, without knowing the answer either under US or UK law-
Assuming that your "right of first refusal" was enforceable-presumably requiring a writing- I think the Seller breached that contract by requiring "sealed bids." This is based on a conclusion that a "right of first refusal" in essence allows you to sit back, wait for the Seller to propose a selling figure (or solicit bids from others, subject to your right of first refusal), and decide whether or not to match the outstanding proposed number. By insisting on a sealed bid, you were effectively deprived of that right, but by agreeing to it, you may have waived your right to insist on adherence to the original contract entitling you to a first refusal right.
Had the Seller simply ignored your contractual right of first refusal, and gone ahead and sold the property to someone else without offering it to you at the same price before he consummated the sale to the other party, you would have had a number of options, including suing the Seller for breach of contract, tying up the sale to the other party, and perhaps, i'm not sure if its possible under UK law, seeking specific performance, ie, compelling the Seller to sell to you at the price agreed to with the other party. Does this make sense? (BTW, i don't practice real estate, but intellectual property, which often includes options, rights of refusal and other contractual encumbrances, such as approval rights over the sale or licensing of entertainment properties, etc.- thus while there are many issues that are similar, the specific rules governing enforceability and remedies may differ significantly). If you do eventually get an answer from a friendly solicitor, let me know if i am on target.

 

Since the house has already sold, there is probably no way that you get the house. 10k isn't enough to get into a suit over, either here or the Uk.

Revenge on the other hand: Call or write the niece, let her know what you bid. Lawyer probably sold to a friend, screwed his client.

Revenge is a dish best tasted cold.

Art

 

I reach Art's conclusion for a different reason- if the right of first refusal was not in a writing signed by an authorized party- i suspect under UK law that you don't have an enforceable contract in the first place. It does sound like the lawyer disserved his client, though, and in addition to alerting the niece, she could conceivably make a claim against him for breach of duty, and make him pay the shortfall between the two offers, as well as getting him into deep **** with the bar association there. (The latter really depends on how sleazy the bar is there- here, short of stealing money from an escrow account, alot of complaints against lawyers fall on deaf ears, until they aggregate to the point where it's impossible to ignore). Good luck, and if you are going to do anything, i recommend getting advice from a UK lawyer, before you make a move.

 

That's instructive. Whaddya wanna bet the lawyer arranged the sale to a shill/friend, and they will share the significant profit. That kind of thing could get this lawyer into deep trouble, and if my supposition is true, then the money earned by the sale should rightfully go to the niece and the lawyer should have his license suspended, at a minimum, with an appropriate public pillorying for having duped his client. Please encourage an investigation of this, i think you yourself could complain to the criminal authorities there, regarding fraud by this lawyer, and assuming the niece is willing to pursue it, i'd bet they'd act. Then, you bring the bar association a criminal case pending against this sucker, not just a complaint. Of course, that's just for starters.... The tough part, if everything so far holds true, is establishing that the shill/seller is going to split the money with the lawyer. Perhaps you, the niece and the authorities wait it out, they keep an eye out on the transaction, the closing and the money flow, and nail the sucker once the ill-gotten lucre hits the lawyer's bank account.

 

Go to the local press/papers it will do the lawyer more harm than a lawsuite or complain the the ombisman of lawyers dont start legal proceedings as its very costly

 

Yes, find out if you can file a complaint of some sort. There has to be an indepedant organization that you could contact that would act on the consumers behalf. This kind of stuff probably happens frequently so I'd get out and make some noise so this weasel can't pull the rug from under someone else. Maybe you can go as far as unraveling the deal. Good luck.

 

Don't waste your time talking to a lawyer, they protect their own.
Go straight to the Law society (or whatever the equivelnt English version is) and file a complaint.
I had a lawyer try to screw me for 20K recently, took it to two other lawyers who basically said, yes he's known as an unscrupulous @sshole, but there's not much you can do. I sued him anyway, against their advice and also filed a complaint for misappropriation of funds with the bar, the told my lawyer what I had done, who questioned why I would do such a thing. He then called the other lawyer and within a week the 20K problem went away.