# My house is being held to ransom by cheating lawyer



## PleaseHelpMe (Jan 19, 2017)

Hello, I'm wondering if anyone might give some advice please. 

11 years ago I bought a beautiful old house in a historic part of Fethiye overlooking the bay. It turned out to be an illegally-built house although there is some form of tapu pertaining to the land and a small stone building. 

At the time I purchased, the law was such that foreigners were unable to have tapu transfer. So, I had to find a Turk to register it with. I registered it with a lawyer as I thought this would be a safe option. I paid her a lump sum and we drew up a protocol outlining the arrangement that she would technically be the owner, although legally I own it. There is no mention in our protocol pertaining to 'holding fees' and I distinctly remember asking her about any such charges at the time. Her reply was that there would be none, but that in future she'd like to handle any legal work and would charge for any future tapu-transfer handling costs. This was fair enough.

It's taken many years to find a buyer for the house. They are aware about the problems and are willing to pay the small amount of £25,000 I'm prepared to take. I paid a total of £85,000 in 2005 including extensive renovation work. The house is really lovely.

To the present day ... The buyer and I (through an estate agent) are ready to start the process of transferring, but all of a sudden the lawyer is demanding £10,000 from me to release the house. She claims these are her 'holding fee's' for the 11 years, plus legal costs. Basically she's blackmailing me and in effect holding the sale to ransom.

I'm so desperate for advice, but know that employing lawyers and taking her to court is a very difficult and expensive process with the big risk of it dragging out and costing a fortune that I don't have.

If anyone could, please advise me - it would be so appreciated.


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## belgarath (Jul 15, 2011)

It all depends on the 'written' protocol between you and the lawyer. 

I am not a lawyer, but looks like you have been ill advised in the past. Unfortunately, the only way to fight a lawyer would be through another one. There are too many red flags in this case (illegally built house, iffy tapu transfer). 

Who paid the property taxes for the last 11 years?

You could sue your lawyer too, but looks like there's no easy way out of this situation since she is the legal owner of the property.


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