A London law firm has fended off a client’s £1m damages claim after it allegedly completed a multi-million-pound house purchase without her consent.
Iranian businesswoman Khadijeh Minai alleged that the solicitor, Roiter Zucker, had acted outside its authority in buying the property in Queen Anne Gate, London SW1, for £7.18m.
She accused the firm of having failed to notify her that the vendor had paid only £2.5m for the property one year previously, and of pressuring her to exchange before the necessary finance was obtained and without having given her an opportunity to negotiate better terms.
However, the High Court has held that Minai authorised the exchange of contracts during a meeting with Roiter Zucker in September 2001, and has ordered her to pay a £60,000 legal bill for the firm’s work in undertaking the transaction.
Field J said that although the firm had been negligent in failing to indicate the price originally paid for the site by the vendor in 2000, Minai had suffered no loss because “no real or substantial chance” existed that she would have been able to secure a reduction in the asking price.
He added that the vendor had undertaken substantial works to the property, and that it had been worth what Minai had paid for it.
The property, known as unit A in Anne Gate, was one of a portfolio that Minai retained Roiter Zucker to acquire in 2000. The firm eventually bought the house for £7.18m, together with another property in Cambridge Gate, but did not purchase the remainder of the portfolio.
The 11,500 sq ft three-storey premises has stood empty for four years while the parties disputed the legal fees, and is now worth £8.25m.
Roiter Zucker (a firm) v Minai Queen’s Bench Division (Field J) 30 November 2005.
Robert Moxon Browne QC and Charles Dougherty (instructed by Kennedys) appeared for the claimant; Andrew Onslow QC (instructed by Watson Farley & Williams) appeared for the defendant.
References: EGi Legal News 05/12/05