Law Society’s Gazette, 4 March, 1981

Letter to the editor

Otiose Enquiries

Will solicitors please stop raising additional pre-contract enquiries:(a) to which no solicitor in his right mind would give a specific reply;(b) which repeat substantially or, occasionally exactly, the usual printed enquiries;(c) which their own client is perfectly capable of answering merely by looking at the house;(d) which the purchaser could deal with himself, eg arranging for the transfer of the telephone and the continuation of gas and electricity supplies; and (e) which could not possibly be relevant to the transaction, eg questions about the Leasehold Reform Act when the property is already freehold.

Roger J Guy, Birmingham

Law Society’s Gazette, 6 March, 1991

Letters to the editor:

Geronimo!

I have it on very good authority (my ten-year-old daughter) that the fastest thing on ice in the absence of an aerodynamic toboggan is the Gazette inside a Tesco carrier bag.

K Mattfield, Bristol

Solicitor repossessions

Figures released this month indicate that of some 40,000 possessions of property due to failure to meet mortgage repayments, 6% or approximately 2,400 were solicitors.

Could this have something to do with the inordinate delay that we experience in receiving payment for work undertaken under legal aid, coupled with the inadequate remuneration provided?

I am just about managing to pay my mortgage and all of my expenses in what would outwardly appear to be a highly successful practice.

However, were it not for the understanding attitude adopted by my bank, I would have been number 2,401 on the list of those having their property repossessed.

If only I had the hands of a television or car mechanic. I understand the hourly rate earned by both those skilled sections of the public exceeds the hourly rate the Lord Chancellor has deemed sufficient for us.

Gary Jacobs, Romford