Dear Sirs,

I am sending this email to all the solicitors concerned with the sale of the above property to Mrs B.

The reason I decided to sell, rather than let out this property, was to effect a quick sale to a cash buyer with no mortgage. Had I chosen the letting route I would by now have received some £2,500 in rental income and the value of the property would have increased by perhaps a greater increment.

Mrs B’s offer to purchase was accepted on the 9th May 2014, over 10 weeks ago.

Why oh why are we not close to exchange / completion ?

The lease extension, I was told, would merely be a paper exercise and yet this appears stalled.

You are all very well financially rewarded for the work you do, at, it has to be said, a lamentable pace. Has it not crossed your minds that I, your client, might need the proceeds from this sale to ‘get on with his life’?  What if I was involved in another property development?  You have been shuffling papers for the same time as we took to up-grade this flat.  May I make you aware that as a consequence of your procrastinations I am paying searing charges on my bank overdraft and punishing interest on my credit card. I approach the end of my tether … the whole UK conveyancing process needs shaking-up,

Yours sincerely,

Jamie Summers

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4 August 2014

Dear Sirs,

Once again, 3 weeks after my first badinage to you solicitors involved in the sale of the above property and now closing in on 13 weeks since the buyer’s verbal agreement to purchase, I am forced to vent my spleen at your collective deferrals. This time I am copying in the estate agent dealing with the sale and will be sending a copy of this and my previous email to Mrs B. who needs to be made aware of my fomenting frustration.

Harry Mount wrote in The Spectator (28.6.14) “ … conveyancing – a long word used by lawyers to conceal an extremely simple transaction.”

I signed my part of the contract one week ago at the offices of my London solicitors and informed them that I wished to complete at the earliest opportunity. Unless we ‘exchange’ by this coming Friday 8th August I fully intend to cancel this sale and re-advertise the property at a considerably raised price or rent it out as an interim arrangement. None of you lawyers will be involved in any subsequent sale.

I repeat my assertion that you have all contrived to make my life financially burdensome. You should be held to account for your ineffectiveness.

Yours sincerely,

Jamie Summers

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4 August 2014

Dear Jamie,

I am surprised by the tone of your email which I find offensive.   I have already explained my position by email.  I have since met you and dealt with everything I was required to do expeditiously.  I will forward separately the emails since our meeting regarding the signed Lease Extensions.

I would appreciate an apology.

Kind Regards.

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No apology ever granted

Dear Lucy,

It was good to see you on television the other day once again sticking up for the poorer members of society – this time in terms of Legal Aid being withdrawn.  I just wanted to say many congratulations on becoming President of the Law Society.

You may not remember me  (Anno Domini gets us all doesn’t it ?!)  but I used to do my best in the mental health world initially for Springfield Patients Council and then for Consumer Forum, the user group at Hammersmith & Fulham MIND.  I must have referred people to you maybe via Steve at the Springfield Law Centre or through John Colquhoun at Penley’s in Dursley   – John and I shared a fine brother-in-law,  Andrew Ingram R.I.P. .  Adina Halpern may be a name you recall as well.

Anyway, you did/do valuable work in a field that few of your fellow solicitors would relish. I am so pleased that you have achieved such high status in your profession.

Funnily enough, back in April 1993,  I wrote a long letter to the Head of Professional Ethics at the Law Society (Redditch office) because an ex-Allen & Overy solicitor (now dead) , who was also my sole Trustee, had taken advantage of my own mental health problems to enrich himself . He even used some £12,000 of mine to pay one of his tax bills !  Because he was still registered with the Law Society and with the City of London Solicitors Company I thought the Law Society might at least strike him off their books. Sadly, my letter got passed to the Solicitors Complaints Bureau in Leamington Spa and came to naught.

I am sure that had you been in charge at the time this wouldn’t have happened !

All the best and many congratulations again,

Yours sincerely,

Jamie Summers