We acted on behalf of six clients who had purchased properties in Wigan over 10 years ago, with mortgages.
Unbeknownst to our clients, their conveyancers had failed to carry out an adequate priority search when they bought their houses, which resulted in third-party claimants, who had loaned monies to the original developer, obtaining a charge over the properties, and meant the homeowners were not registered as the owners.
Challenging an order for sale
Our clients sought to register their titles, but the Tribunal ultimately refused their applications. Subsequently, the claimants obtained Orders for Sale, entitling them to sell the properties. We were then instructed to act for the clients in challenging the Order for Sale.
The clients have been naturally very anxious and fearful over their futures, some of them have been on sick leave from work and taking medication to relieve mental health issues. Our clients were also in a constant state of panic as the claimants would often turn up at the property without notice.
The difficulty was that the claimants were entitled to the charges, and therefore, we had to uncover procedural and substantive irregularities with how the original Order for Sale was obtained.
Success at hearing
On 4 December 2025, we successfully applied to have the Order for Sale set aside on multiple grounds, most notably because the Court was not aware of our clients' occupation of the properties at the time the Orders were granted. The Court also awarded our clients their costs to be assessed, together with an interim costs payment of £15,000.00.
In parallel, our clients are pursuing professional negligence claims against their former conveyancing solicitors. These proceedings are expected to proceed to a trial of at least five days.
This matter remains ongoing, with a final hearing listed for 10 March 2026, where our clients will need to convince the Court that an Order for Sale should not be made or, at the very least, should be delayed until the conclusion of our clients' professional negligence claim.
