Countrywide Property Lawyers - are they as bad as I've read?

lillibet_dripping

DO NOT TOUCH THEM!
I bought through Bairstow Eves as did my buyer. He used cwpl, I went local.
Cwpl have 'forgotten' to send out vital documents, sent out wrong forms and generally been useless.
As a result, the entire chain is still being held up by cwpl.
I am on the verge of ditching my buyer and going with the first offer.

eadesyC

I wouldnt go with them. I brought my first property with them end of last year and just had grief from day one. In the end i got rid of them and went with a new highly recommended solicitor and the experience was alot better.
They just seem to drag there feet and never send the right documents out at the right time

GeorgeSmith_2

Yes they are awful. Do not use them. It is better to pay a few pounds more and deal with a named solicitor rather than an anonymous answering service who don't really care so long as they deal with your phone call.

14 weeks ago we accepted an offer from a cash buyer on an empty property and we are still waiting for completion.

:mad:

bitsandpieces

Fees seem high, unless this is an esp high value and complex transaction.

docij

lillibet_dripping wrote: »

DO NOT TOUCH THEM!
I bought through Bairstow Eves as did my buyer. He used cwpl, I went local.
Cwpl have 'forgotten' to send out vital documents, sent out wrong forms and generally been useless.
As a result, the entire chain is still being held up by cwpl.

We're in the same situation, same EA and our buyers are using CPL. So far it's taken 9 weeks since we accepted the offer. CPL are still asking questions, claiming papers 'not received' and checking unnecessary details. Our solicitor is being driven to distraction by them.

Alixday

I would not recommend you use them under any circumstances. They do not care about their clients. They sat on my buyer's solicitors enquiries (only two and pretty straightforward) until I complained to the team manager. Considering Countrywide are earning on the sale of my home as well as my buyer's mortgage, I thought using them would be a good idea. Please believe me and do not touch with a bargepole. Much better and cheaper to use a local recommended solicitor. Wish I had gone back to one I used before. If you are in NW London cannot recommend Waller Pollins highly enough.

Alixday

Please please don't use Countrywide Property Lawyers. They are hopelessly slow and don't care at all about their clients. I bet your agent is part of their group.

sanderc

wow, just reading this before meeting my estate agent who is convincing me to go with countrywide. I was nearly swayed but had a niggling feeling i had heard something bad about them. Glad I know now, I will be going with a local small firm I know I can go to their door if needed!
Thank you thank you thank you all

lillibet_dripping

I'm glad we have all managed to save one poor soul the grief we have all been through!
Just an update on my situation, my sale (the one which went through cwpl) has been ready for exchange now for about two weeks. However, on the morning of what should have been exchange (28th August), the FTB at the bottom pulled out! As a result, my vendor sold to another buyer that afternoon as he didn't want to lose his purchase!!
As a result, we now have a new FTB at the bottom who has a s**t hot solicitor and I have found a delightful cottage in a location much better suited to our family cirucmstances with no ongoing chain. We are about 10 - 14 days away from exchange now.

All's well that end well - as Welshwoofs will confirm!
Lilli

CWilson_2

Believe it or not I'm reading through these threads whilst on hold waiting to speak to an actual person at CPL. I'm a conveyancing solicitor - I'm a sole practitioner educated at Oxford and set up my own business so that I can have a relaxed environment for clients and I can control what I charge. In the example given where the client was quoted over £1300 ours would have been just under £700. We charge £325 + VAT, we don't charge ANY extras for things like SDLT returns - that's all part of it - AND I answer the phone - you don't even have to get past a receptionist. I know the service I offer is pretty rare and my clients love it - my stocks of wine and thank you cards are testament to that but it goes to show that if you shop around you'll do better. I recently lost out on a client who was told by Entwistle Green that they HAD to use CPL which is just WRONG.

I hate dealing with them - you can never get to speak to anyone - and now that my call has been answered, I've discovered that they've done nothing since I spoke to them last and they're still not ready - took 15 minutes to find that out. Annoying!