Originally published in BLG Lawyers' Liability
Briefing: Issue 22.
A number of recent surveys have found that around 45 per
cent of claims against solicitors arise out of property work.
These claims come not only from traditional residential
conveyancing work: up to 15 per cent relate to commercial
property and landlord and tenant problems.
The current climate
Speculation over recent months about the weakening state of
many parts of the property market is now turning into a
reality. Nobody can be sure whether we are heading towards a
property crash to match that of the early 1990s, but a
combination of soaring property prices in recent years and the
credit crunch is a major worry, not just to property owners but
also to solicitors and their insurers, because historically
property claims burgeon in a falling market. When the market
goes into reverse, bad deals cannot be disguised by an
