FOUR families have run up legal bills totalling more than £100,000 during a 14-year fight to prove they own the title to their homes, according to experts.

The potential costs faced by the West Lothian householders, who still have no title ownership, do not include the original conveyancing fees for the properties they bought for up to £80,000 in Happy Valley Road, Blackburn.

The families' costs have emerged after their plight was revealed in Monday's Herald.

It has also emerged that the Law Society of Scotland's 'master policy', which covers solicitors against claims for negligence, was at the centre of a row between two law firms in an unreported case, which reached the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal.

In an 18-page complaint to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission three years ago, solicitors Fleming Reid alleged that the law firm representing the policy's principal insurers had "aggravated an already difficult situation" by avoiding appropriate responsibility.

The body passed the complaint to the Law Society of Scotland, which upheld it.

But it was subsequently quashed, on appeal by the solicitor involved, by the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal.

The Law Society of Scotland said it works hard to maintain the highest possible standards within the solicitor profession and ensure robust systems of consumer protection are in place.