Property Fraud - Managing Negligence Claims Against Solicitors

Introduction

Property fraud involving identity theft remains a major problem, causing substantial losses to buyers and their lenders who are rarely able to recover the money stolen by the fraudster, so they make claims against the solicitors and conveyancers who acted for them, for the fraudster and for others in the transaction.

The legal principles can be complex and include breach of trust, negligence, misrepresentation, breach of undertaking and breach of warranty of authority but since the decision in Dreamvar (P&P Property Ltd v Owen White & Catlin LLP) the legal framework is established. What remains challenging is how to manage claims against solicitors.

This webinar will use case studies as practical examples and illustrations of how to best advance and defend these types of claims, including where the focus should be in relation to the arguments which work best and those to be avoided.

What You Will Learn

This short webinar will cover the following:

• The difficulty of avoiding findings of breach of trust
• The arguments to deploy in support of an application for relief from breach of trust
• The remaining relevance of allegations of negligence especially with regard to identity checks and anti-money laundering rules
• The scope of losses that are recoverable
• Multi-party litigation where many professionals are in the frame to make contributions

This pre-recorded webinar will be available to view from Wednesday 16th July 2025

Alternatively, you can gain access to this webinar and 1,700+ others via the MBL Webinar Subscription. Please email webinarsubscription@mblseminars.com for more details.