Conveyancing Direct FAQs
Glasgow law firm Conveyancing Direct has ceased to practice. The Law Society has been appointed to access all of the files, documentation and the client account at Conveyancing Direct. We understand this is a very worrying time for clients of the firm and our team will be working as quickly as possible to assess and address the situation to protect clients.
If you are a member of the public or member of the profession affected by the closure of Conveyancing Direct, please see the information below.
For clients
Files relating to transactions completed from 2016 onwards which were held in the Conveyancing Direct office, are now being held in storage by the Law Society of Scotland.
If you need to recover a file or information from a file in that date range, you should complete a mandate form and send to interventionsenquiries@lawscot.org.uk along with the relevant name, address and transaction details. If the file is in joint names, both parties should sign the mandate.
We aim to deal with these requests within 15 working days.
If your file predates 2016, you should send a completed mandate form along with the relevant name, address and transaction details to the trustee at swright@wd-br.co.uk
It is however, possible that old files may have been destroyed as per the terms of the trustee’s data protection policy.
Wills and deeds recovered from Conveyancing Direct's office are now being held in storage by the Law Society of Scotland.
If you wish to recover a will, complete a mandate form and send to interventionsenquiries@lawscot.org.uk along with the name and address of the relevant individual.
If you wish to recover a title deed complete a mandate form and send to interventionsenquiries@lawscot.org.uk along with the name of the owner and property address. If you have an outstanding mortgage on your property, we may need to obtain the consent of your lender, before we are able to release the deeds to you. Consequently, there may be a delay in sending these documents.
If the matter is in joint names, both parties should sign the mandate.
We aim to deal with these requests within 15 working days.
The money which was held by Conveyancing Direct on behalf of clients, is now under the control of the Law Society of Scotland.
We will be unable to release funds without a formal written request. Please refer to the guidance notes provided, complete and sign a claim form and post along with client ID or certified copy ID to the Interventions team at the address provided on the form. If the funds are held in joint names, both parties require to sign the claim form and provide separate ID.
If you are able to email a scanned copy of the signed mandate and ID document to interventionsenquiries@lawscot.org.uk, it may enable us to source the relevant transaction ahead of receiving the original documents and speed up the process.
If there is difficulty in matching the claim to payments received to the former firm’s account, we may need to request evidence of payments, a bank statement for example.
If part of the money we hold relates to fees, we will let you know. You will then need to contact the Trustee of the former principal of the firm to ask that the fee be paid to you. His details are swright@wd-br.co.uk
If your claim relates to money paid for fees, this is a matter for the Trustee of the former principal of the firm. Your claim in this respect should be directed to swright@wd-br.co.uk
The Society is not in a position to meet any costs incurred. However, the former firm has professional indemnity cover. You should contact the Interventions team on interventionsenquiries@lawscot.org.uk to explain what costs have been incurred. The team will then refer the claim to the insurers.
The Society is only in a position to deal with client matters. It has no power to deal with debts due by the former firm or the practitioner. Any such queries should be referred to the trustee for the practitioner, who is Gillian Campbell of Milne Craig CA. Her contact details are below –
Gillian Campbell FCCA MIPA
Insolvency Practitioner
Milne Craig
Tel: 0141 887 7811
Mobile: 07753540360
Fax: 0141 887 7753
email: gillian.campbell@milnecraig.co.uk
For members of the legal profession
Files relating to transactions completed from 2016 onwards which were held in the Conveyancing Direct office, are now being held in storage by the Law Society of Scotland.
If you need to recover a file or information from a file in that date range, you should send a mandate to interventions@lawscot.org.uk along with the relevant name, address and transaction details.
If your file predates 2016, you should send a mandate and the relevant name, address and transaction details to the trustee at gillian.campbell@milnecraig.co.uk
It is however, possible that old files may have been destroyed as per the terms of the trustee’s data protection policy.
Conveyancing Direct has ceased practice. There is no-one in a position to implement a letter of obligation or undertaking and as the professional body for Scottish solicitors, the Society has no power to carry out legal work for clients or lenders.
If the issue relates to a discharge, the seller has, through their solicitor, agreed to have the security discharged. However, where a transaction has already settled it is rare for a seller in these circumstances, to instruct new agents to do discharge the security. Generally, the quickest way to resolve the issue is for the purchaser’s agents to ask the lender to if they provide an executed discharge which the purchaser’s agents will then register.
Lenders will often request a mortgage account number to deal with these enquiries and unfortunately, we have no quick way to access this information. Some lenders have instructed legal agents. This information can be provided by contacting the Interventions team on interventionsenquiries@lawscot.org.uk
If the lender will not deal with the discharge request without the mortgage account number, explaining the issue to the lender’s legal department or panel solicitors may assist. The interventions team have details of some contacts who are aware of the current issues. It can be worth emailing as above.
If you wish to reclaim the cost of this remedial work, this should be referred to the Interventions team on interventionsenquiries@lawscot.org.uk
The Society is not in a position to meet any costs incurred. If you wish to reclaim the cost of this remedial work, this should be referred to the Interventions team on interventionsenquiries@lawscot.org.uk
The Society is only in a position to deal with client matters. It has no power to deal with debts due by the former firm, Conveyancing Direct or the practitioner. Any such queries should be referred to the trustee for the practitioner. Contact details below.
Steven Wright
William Duncan Business Recovery
Contact details
- Email: interventionsenquiries@lawscot.org.uk
- Postal address
FAO Interventions
Atria One,
Level 2,
144 Morrison Street,
Edinburgh,
EH3 8EX - Telephone: 0131 226 7411
- Textphone: 0131 476 8359
- Fax: 0131 225 2934
- DX address: DX ED 1, EDINBURGH
When firms close down or are in trouble
We assist clients where a solicitor has ceased trading without making arrangements for their clients, or it's found that a firm's accounting records have not been kept properly.
Client Protection Fund
The Client Protection Fund exists to protect clients who have lost money because of the dishonesty of a solicitor or a member of their staff.
How solicitors are insured
We arrange professional indemnity insurance known as the Master Policy for all Scottish solicitors in private practice. Clients can get advice about negligence claims from the Pursuers' Panel.