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

leap31

I have 2 people in my chain using this company; and my Solicitor does not have a good word to say about them. They have been so slow with their searches that they have delayed exchange for 2 weeks now, everyone else is ready to go...

JunoPPPP

I bought 2 houses last year, for one I used a local solicitor and the process took about a month, for the other I used CPL and it took almost 6 months. There were no complications with the searches on the second property so that was not the reason for the delay.

I used CPL because they were recommended by the estate agent. The only good thing I would say about CPL is that my estate agent assured me that I would not have to pay the solicitors' fees (although I would have to pay search fees) if the transaction was not completed.

On the other hand the problems with CPL were numerous:

1) Several documents had to be sent to them more than once, in the case of one document 3 times, because CPL lost them or could not locate them, even though there was a reference number on each. If I had used a local solicitor I could have simply dropped the documents into their office whereas I had to wait weeks before I discovered that CPL had not received them. On more than one occasion I received a letter from CPL accusing me of holding up the process by not returning documents promptly.

2) The staff who answer the phones/make all but the final phone calls are very junior and unable to answer basic questions about the transaction.

3) Because CPL deal with so many cases at once they are not familiar with the details of individual cases and staff have to scroll through your case files while you are on the phone to find answers. To buy time a lot of the call handlers simply read out each point that they are scrolling through while on the phone to try to reassure you that they are trying to find the answer.

4) I phoned to change simple details such as the correct spelling of my name and the address for correspondence, but these had not been updated on all parts of the case file so subsequent documents had to be sent back to be amended.

5) The results to the searches are sent back to the client as several page documents with no indication of which points are important and which are not, it is up to the client to read through everything to find the details. When I went to a local solicitor she explained the results of all the searches simply in one meeting and was able to answer any queries I had.

6) Because the process took so long my seller's seller pulled out citing the length of time that the process was taking as the reason and my seller had to find a new property and go through the whole process again before we could complete.

Without a doubt in future I would use a local solicitor and would not use CPL again.

80schild

aargh my vendor is using these!!! NIGHTMARE!!!!

Richard_Webster

Countrywide, Co-OP, Tesco Legal, Shoosmiths, Fridays, Premier Property Lawyers, Quality Solicitors, Beaumont Legal, 'any positive adjective in our name ' & Co.........all have something in common.

I think that;'s too wide.

I have never had a problem with Shoosmiths and a local firm that is part of Quality Solicitors are fine.

Henry_Hoover_2

I think the best way to find a solicitor is through word of mouth.

I use a local solicitor and she is great. Very quick turnaround, very approachable and as she is local, we can drop documents off to her, rather than rely on the postal service!

DaveW007

JunoPPPP wrote: »

I bought 2 houses last year, for one I used a local solicitor and the process took about a month, for the other I used CPL and it took almost 6 months. There were no complications with the searches on the second property so that was not the reason for the delay.

I used CPL because they were recommended by the estate agent. The only good thing I would say about CPL is that my estate agent assured me that I would not have to pay the solicitors' fees (although I would have to pay search fees) if the transaction was not completed.

On the other hand the problems with CPL were numerous:

1) Several documents had to be sent to them more than once, in the case of one document 3 times, because CPL lost them or could not locate them, even though there was a reference number on each. If I had used a local solicitor I could have simply dropped the documents into their office whereas I had to wait weeks before I discovered that CPL had not received them. On more than one occasion I received a letter from CPL accusing me of holding up the process by not returning documents promptly.

2) The staff who answer the phones/make all but the final phone calls are very junior and unable to answer basic questions about the transaction.

3) Because CPL deal with so many cases at once they are not familiar with the details of individual cases and staff have to scroll through your case files while you are on the phone to find answers. To buy time a lot of the call handlers simply read out each point that they are scrolling through while on the phone to try to reassure you that they are trying to find the answer.

4) I phoned to change simple details such as the correct spelling of my name and the address for correspondence, but these had not been updated on all parts of the case file so subsequent documents had to be sent back to be amended.

5) The results to the searches are sent back to the client as several page documents with no indication of which points are important and which are not, it is up to the client to read through everything to find the details. When I went to a local solicitor she explained the results of all the searches simply in one meeting and was able to answer any queries I had.

6) Because the process took so long my seller's seller pulled out citing the length of time that the process was taking as the reason and my seller had to find a new property and go through the whole process again before we could complete.

Without a doubt in future I would use a local solicitor and would not use CPL again.

I think it is an utter disgrace that they are still trading. I had the same problems and more when I used them back in 2005!!

I took them to the small claims court as I lost out on several of their errors. Fortunately for me CPL did admit liability and settled out of court. I certainly would not recommend them to anyone.

80schild

My vendors are using these. They are saying to my solicitors the vendors have not returned documents yet the vendor has said she has sent back what is required of her days ago!!!!

coldavies1

Country Wide are just flat out incompetant in my experience.


I went with their solicitors at first on my property purchase but changed my mind after speaking to another local solicitor who was much cheaper.


I have, unfortunately, been using their mortgage service and it has been a nightmare. In the initial meetings, everything seemed fine and the adviser kept blabbing about a "Fast Track" mortgage service to sort out the mortgage quickly and efficiently. I've found it to be the complete opposite. We were given list of all the documents, ID, etc. they needed from the word go. That was all handed in quickly and they came back with an agreement in principle shortly afterwards. So far so good. We were told it would now all be dealt with and the next thing we'd see is a mortgage offer in a few weeks time (4 to 6 weeks maximum). A few weeks went by and we hadn't heard anything so I chased them up. We were told it was all in hand and imminent. Another week went by and I was asked for more paperwork and this was the same story for the next three weeks. In the end I got annoyed with them and got excuses like "Oh they forgot to tell me this and that" and "Oh I didn't see the fax waiting on my desk from a few days ago". I also kept getting requests for paperwork I'd already given them! I get the impression they don't take care of their clients confidential stuff.

After just over 14 weeks (what happened to 4 to 6 weeks?!?), I at last got my offer but I still haven't got my property because rather than send the mortgage offer to my solicitor, they sent it to CWPL - despite the updated solicitor form they got right in the beginning. My solicitor has now been chasing the offer to be forwarded to them for two weeks and still hasn't got it.

I'm glad I went with my change of solicitor because my solicitor has been the only person in buying the property that's been professional about the matter. The estate agents are also another story that fits in with CW's incompetance but that's another can of worms.

Avoid Country Wide like the plague.

TVA

They are terrible - you get a team not a solicitor, will have to speak to a different person whenever you call, most of the wrok is done by juniors with the solicitor just signing off on the file and you are paying a good £200 more than you need to. As a non countrywide estate agent I have had a sale fall through purely because of their incompetence and seen someone miss out on a purchase to avoid dealing with them (there were 2 offers one party using them and one not). Stay well clear and dont let the agent pressure you - he just wants his referral fee.

TVA

As an aside I have only had dealings with one of their mortgage advisors on a regular basis and have no problems with him - he is great its just the solicitors that are dire.