Case ongoing at time of writing (May 2025)
What has happened so far?
This professional negligence claim is being brought by a company against its former solicitors, arising from defective drafting of a charge that led to the loss of security over a £180,000 debt. Temple is supporting the claimant with ATE insurance to pursue the action with confidence.
The Claimant is bringing a professional negligence claim against the Defendant for allegedly negligent work related to the preparation and registration of a charge (“the Charge”) against property owned by a third party to secure a debt of £180,000 to the Claimant.
Defects in the drafting of the Charge by the Defendant led to substantial legal costs being incurred by the Claimant in a dispute with a third party, who sought and obtained the removal of the Charge from the Land Register. This dispute ultimately resulted in a settlement requiring the Charge’s removal.
The Claimant contends that, but for the Defendant’s breaches of duty, it would have secured a valid Charge over the third party’s property. When the third Party failed to pay the £180,000 debt, the Claimant asserts it would have obtained an order for the property’s sale to recover the debt.
The Defendant argues that its role was limited to providing a blank Land Registry CH1 form for the Claimant’s director to complete and submit the Charge for registration via the Land Registry Portal. It maintains that its duty did not extend to advising on or ensuring the accuracy of the Charge’s contents. However, the Defendant did amend the CH1 form by removing the £180,000 monetary reference before the document was executed, stating this was done on instruction and without acting in an advisory capacity for the Claimant.
The Claimant seeks damages for the £180,000 lost due to the unsecured Charge and approximately £30,000 in legal costs incurred defending the third party’s successful action to have the Charge removed.
Temple issued an ATE policy to the Claimant, enabling them to pursue a professional negligence claim against the Defendant without the risk of incurring adverse costs if the case was unsuccessful. Furthermore, Temple granted a right to the Claimant to revert to Temple if ever it needs to endorse the issued ATE policy with an Anti-Avoidance Endorsement (AAE) to allow for the issued ATE policy and AAE to be used to satisfy an anticipated security for costs application by the Defendant.
The Temple Perspective
Temple is committed to enabling businesses to hold professional advisers to account when negligent actions cause serious financial loss. We believe that effective access to legal remedies should not be denied because of the risk of prohibitive costs.
Matter value: £207,028.
Case status: ATE insurance policy issued, case ongoing.
Team members involved: Matthew Pascall, Head of Legal.
