Need Advise Regarding Troublesome Lawyer / Hdb Seller.

[sepultura 0]

Well it looks like we're going to be on schedule. Our lawyers threatened to charge them a ton of money, and we wrote in to HDB. Those guys caved in. Thinking they're very clever, dated the letter 7th Sept but faxed it in only this week. Hope to complete this without any more hassle.

I am told that there were already four such complaints against those morons. Now though it looks like we're going to be on time, I definitely do not want to leave the matter to rest. I want to lodge complaints against those lawyers wherever it will make a difference so that they don't keep screwing other people like they did to us.

Apart from the law society and possibly HDB, where else could I lodge formal complaints?

[waileong 0]

You can complain about your own lawyer, but how can you complain about their lawyer? Lawyers exist to take instructions from their clients. If they don't do something, it's because their client have not given them instructions to do so.

[sepultura 0]

Hmm.... so what would you advise? As you rightly say, the seller may very well have been screwing around with us through their lawyer. However, where would the line be drawn between unethical and outright lying? Some incidents we have faced fall in the latter camp.

[waileong 0]

I told you. You have a lawyer, he exists to serve and advise you, ask him. Hearsay advice in a forum is no good compared to paid professional advice from your lawyer.

[sepultura 0]

This drama has taken a new turn now. We were supposed to complete the transaction and 2nd appt yesterday. Near closing time, the seller's lawyers called our guys and said they can't complete the transaction! Yesterday was the 8 week deadline from 1st appt, so there's going to be penalties.

My lawyers are slapping them with late completion penalty charges, giving them 21 days to complete / vacate the flat, and interest charged on a daily basis. If that doesn't work, there's going to be a lawsuit for breach of contract.

I will provide more specifics after the saga is over. Don't want to blabber too much here for now. Cheers.

[raincole 0]

That's good. Maybe you may get enough $$ for your reno

Good luck.

Unless the sellers are bankrupt, then will be difficult to pursure for $$.

Let us know.

[sepultura 0]

Well, it's done now. After enough and more arguments between the lawyers they completed and handed over the keys to me. As for late completion penalties don't expect 40-50k or something like that. The typical rate is about $100/day which worked out to around 1k for me, which about covers my costs and gives me a little to spare. The penalties are supposed to increase if they exceed 21 days delay, and you could have a lawsuit after that.

We were told that the seller's lawyers have done this before and there were several complaints against them earlier too. At the end it wasn't the seller who paid me, but their law firm! Looks like they have too much money and don't care about it.

I'm going to avoid having to deal with this law firm in future. Very irresponsible. For those of you interested, the law firm is SM & ZMA - I'm not expanding the abbrev but you'll know if you ever get to deal with them.

[Warrior88 0]

Hm... not bad, still got around 1k in cash. Cover all those haressment for the past few days.

But, I am still wondering why they delay all this time.

[sepultura 0]

I know this is old, but someone I know got hit badly by the very same law firm. Here's some news in the papers about this company:

http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/...ory_191860.html

http://www.todayonline.com/articles/223628.asp

http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews...0101-43238.html

http://sgpropertynews.wordpress.com/2007/1...-couples-40000/