Warning - do not use wolstenholmes solicitors

apexblue

Believe the police are now involved.

cicero001

just_me_ wrote: »

Another "Newbie", not defending or slagging anyone off however.

Read in an earlier post that Nasir may be the same person who was involved in the dodgy purcahse of Pilsworth Industrial Estate.

Can someone clarify whether Nasir was the same person and what the case was.

I have dealt with Imran Hussain, and he comes across as an articulate, well dressed person.....However, I understand he was involved in a couple of now defunct law companies "Edward Mardale Solicitors" & AIM Legal or AIM Ltd.
Surely it's too much of a coincidence that any law company he is involved in, suddenly goes under (& from what I understand, just disappear without paying the rent, etc)

In Relation to Wolstenholmes, I work for a company that purchases properties, and unfortunately we used Wolstenholmes. Having purchased a block of properties over a 6 month period, we were supplied with various Completion Statement (through the sale taking longer than expexcted).

To cut a long story short, when our accountant was preparing our accounts, we had a dispute with our bridging lender stating that we had paid £x of interest & only £y remained.

The bridging company gave us figures, but we requested complaetion statements on 13/02/09 for the properties.

Having gone through Nasir, Bilal, Tracey, Pat, Kevin, Sheila, finally Alexandra was able to provide us with the completion statements. However, these were received at end of November 2009.

In the meantime, we paid extra interest to our lender (which we get back), but also couldn't complete our accounts, and hence have been penalised by Companies House.

Can we pursue Wolstenholmes for these??
If so, couldn't individuals pursue Wolstenholmes to pay for the Stamp Duty.

Finally, putting personal details online I disagree with, but understand why some people will defend posters posting address' & family history online

Imran Hussain may be well dressed and speak well, however that really does not mean he is not, in my opinion, also dishonest and incompetent.

He has been quoted by one customer as saying he was a family lawyer to try and abrogate responsibility; he is not he is a property lawyer. He lied to this client.
He does not return calls, he misleads, he draws people in with his image but it really is a veneer. Below the surface it is rotten.

cicero001

Catwoman8950 wrote: »

You may be interested to see the letter I have just received from Stirling Law today by e-mail. Note the date! I have contacted DWF and the SRA again today to see what I must do about this. I have no intention of letting Stirling Law carry on with my case. It seems that Wolstenholmes have been very clever transferring clients' files to Stirling Law BEFORE the SRA intervened. Judging by the date of the letter from Stirling Law, I believe Wolstenholmes did this on 15th December 2009.


17 December 2009


Dear xxxx

Re: xxxxx

We refer to the above matter.

We confirm that the private client department at Wolstenholmes LLP has closed and as a result of this closure Stirling Law has agreed to take over the conduct of the files to ensure a continuity of service to the clients. However this will only take place with your consent and agreement.

Stirling Law has a dedicated private client department which is able to deal with all wills, probate and any other private client issues.

If you wish for this firm to take over your file please sign and return the consent to transfer file and funds form enclosed.

This firm will also be undertaking a full file review at which point an update on your matter will be given by writing with a list of the next steps and approximate timescales.

We look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.

Yours Sincerely


Victoria Sharp
STIRLING LAW

Hi - you simply need to write back to say that you do not want them to handle the file and want no further communication, save as for an acknowledgement of your instructions or you will report them to the SRA.
You should ask them to transfer your file/make available for collection - if they don't do this within 7 days - report them.

You can nominate your own solicitor who can do the above for you. You do not need to use DWF (though they are good) - Do not look for a cheap firm - a good city centre practice will charge about £500-£700 for a purchase/sale - it is worth it - Pick a good firm with LEXCEL accreditation and you will be ok.

Good luck

Simply_Me_2

shocked_solicitor wrote: »

The problem is with these cheap firms is that it often is not a qualified person doing the work - by qualified I mean FILEX, a licenced conveyancer or a solicitor. A trainee solicitor can undertake work legitmately as they are supervised - these cheap quote places have loads of assistants and I do not mean assistant solicitors these are unqualified people who don't get paid much above minimum wage and have little or no legal expertise. Solicitors Indemnity Insurance is higher the more solicitors you have to cover so if you go to a proper firm with solicitors doing the work the overhead that they carry for indemnity insurance (to cover people for dodgy people like these) the practicing certificates that we all have to have as solicitors to do the job alone means that quotes like the ones given by these people are not viable. It is not a two tier system at all - the cheaper ones cut corners - my advice always check the qualification of the person acting on your file - if they are called a case worker/handler they will not be qualified - ask questions its your right to make sure you get good service!!

Thank you. The trouble is you may ask but you do not always get a truthful answer. I was told that Sonja Barnett who was in charge of my file was a solicitor when I called the LCS and tried to find her online I could not find her at all. The LCS's advice was that she probably practised under a different name they weren't concerned then and they are probably still not concerned. Unfortunately for me I believed in a solicitors firm's worth. What this whole case has revealed is the inadequacies of the SRA's ability to regulate. Again a review is called for.

shocked_solicitor

cicero001 wrote: »

Hi - you simply need to write back to say that you do not want them to handle the file and want no further communication, save as for an acknowledgement of your instructions or you will report them to the SRA.
You should ask them to transfer your file/make available for collection - if they don't do this within 7 days - report them.

You can nominate your own solicitor who can do the above for you. You do not need to use DWF (though they are good) - Do not look for a cheap firm - a good city centre practice will charge about £500-£700 for a purchase/sale - it is worth it - Pick a good firm with LEXCEL accreditation and you will be ok.

Good luck

Good advice but you don't need LEXCEL accredited firms as LEXCEL is cost prohibitive to many smaller firms but it does not mean that these firms are not any good - as I have posted before check the credentials of who will be doing your work and how many regulated people are at the firm - you will find that the low cost bargain basement firms tend to have very few solicitors - the rest will be none qualified case workers

shocked_solicitor

Simply_Me wrote: »

Thank you. The trouble is you may ask but you do not always get a truthful answer. I was told that Sonja Barnett who was in charge of my file was a solicitor when I called the LCS and tried to find her online I could not find her at all. The LCS's advice was that she probably practised under a different name they weren't concerned then and they are probably still not concerned. Unfortunately for me I believed in a solicitors firm's worth. What this whole case has revealed is the inadequacies of the SRA's ability to regulate. Again a review is called for.

it is an offence to pass yourself off as a solicitor and if a solicitor is in the process of changing their name due to marriage they should tell their client the name in which their practicing certificate is in. Many married women practice in their maiden names because that is the name in which they qualified. I would always check a solicitors credentials and if you cannot find them on the law society website query it!!!

Simply_Me_2

cakinwande wrote: »

Nazma left the company a few months before WH went down. I believe she was really trying to get peoples issues sorted but realised she bit off more than she could chew. I found out WH didnt do a single thing on my account for 5 months and only partly refunded my deposit with no invoice attached.

Please read back a few pages to find out what went wrong with WH, this whole thread is full of usefull information

You say Nazma left Wolstenholmes months ago, funny that because Sheridan Wall of Stirling Law claimed to have received an email from Nazma stating that she was dealing with my mortgage on Friday 18 December 2009. Hmmmmmmmmm..........

Anyone from Wolstenholmes needs to come clean and let us all know what really happened fraud, incompetency are we to really believe that individuals were opening over 20,000 files a month. If one does the maths 20,000 multiplied by £400 as I know no one whopaid £99 totals 8 million a month per one person. The mind boggles.

Librachick

shocked_solicitor wrote: »

The problem is with these cheap firms is that it often is not a qualified person doing the work - by qualified I mean FILEX, a licenced conveyancer or a solicitor. A trainee solicitor can undertake work legitmately as they are supervised - these cheap quote places have loads of assistants and I do not mean assistant solicitors these are unqualified people who don't get paid much above minimum wage and have little or no legal expertise. Solicitors Indemnity Insurance is higher the more solicitors you have to cover so if you go to a proper firm with solicitors doing the work the overhead that they carry for indemnity insurance (to cover people for dodgy people like these) the practicing certificates that we all have to have as solicitors to do the job alone means that quotes like the ones given by these people are not viable. It is not a two tier system at all - the cheaper ones cut corners - my advice always check the qualification of the person acting on your file - if they are called a case worker/handler they will not be qualified - ask questions its your right to make sure you get good service!!

I did this due to not living in England now, living in Scotland. So thought that someone local was not an issue, as had to do everything via email, mail etc.

but my bum has been bitten

shocked_solicitor

Simply_Me wrote: »

You say Nazma left Wolstenholmes months ago, funny that because Sheridan Wall of Stirling Law claimed to have received an email from Nazma stating that she was dealing with my mortgage on Friday 18 December 2009. Hmmmmmmmmm..........

Anyone from Wolstenholmes needs to come clean and let us all know what really happened fraud, incompetency are we to really believe that individuals were opening over 20,000 files a month. If one does the maths 20,000 multiplied by £400 as I know no one whopaid £99 totals 8 million a month per one person. The mind boggles.

Sheridan Wall..... any connection to Gavin Wall the guy who set up Home formerly of Wolstenholmes? She is connected again to one of the solicitor who has been suspended as she was an employee of Chartbridge - another link between Wolstenholmes and Stirling

Simply_Me_2

shocked_solicitor wrote: »

Sheridan Wall..... any connection to Gavin Wall the guy who set up Home formerly of Wolstenholmes? She is connected again to one of the solicitor who has been suspended as she was an employee of Chartbridge - another link between Wolstenholmes and Stirling

She was equally unhelpful when the [EMAIL="s@#t"]s@#t[/EMAIL] started to hit the fan.

I hope the SRA and the LCS are as astute in their investigations as some of the posters on here have been. I am grateful to the ongoing information that continues to be brought to this forum. Thank you.