For someone intending to buy a property abroad, the lesson to be learned from Gregory v Shepherds [2000] 50 EG 100 is that it may pay to instruct an English solicitor in the first instance, even though the formalities will have to be entrusted to a local firm. The upshot of the decision is that the English firm so instructed cannot wash its hands of the affair once the local firm has been appointed.
While it was not suggested that the defendant would be (vicariously) liable for each and every error committed locally, the firm was held to have been negligent in releasing the purchase moneys without first obtaining from its appointee specific and unequivocal confirmation that relevant searches had been satisfactorily completed, and that no adverse incumbrances had been disclosed.
For someone intending to buy a property abroad, the lesson to be learned from Gregory v Shepherds [2000] 50 EG 100 is that it may pay to instruct an English solicitor in the first instance, even though the formalities will have to be entrusted to a local firm. The upshot of the decision is that the English firm so instructed cannot wash its hands of the affair once the local firm has been appointed.
While it was not suggested that the defendant would be (vicariously) liable for each and every error committed locally, the firm was held to have been negligent in releasing the purchase moneys without first obtaining from its appointee specific and unequivocal confirmation that relevant searches had been satisfactorily completed, and that no adverse incumbrances had been disclosed.
