Anyone used Premier Property Lawyers?

paperdoll_2

Haven't used them myself but family members did when they moved.
This is their mission statement:
We believe that conveyancing should be all about our customers. By putting the customer at the heart of the business and challenging the status quo, we lead the way in delivering a personal, trusted and values-based service that reduces the stress of moving home.

My relatives' experience was exactly the opposite and they would dispute every word of the final sentence. Instead of reducing the stress PPL caused them untold stress on moving day and through their inefficiency and error actually left them homeless. Case is ongoing so can't say too much.

If your estate agent suggests you use "their" conveyancers, who may well have the same name as the agent, decline the offer and use a proper solicitor.

Smodlet

We used them four years ago because our selling EA recommended them (yeah, I know better now, thanks) They were atrocious. They are just a bunch of conveyancers, as far as I could tell... I formed the opinion they were staffed by a bunch of first year law students/articled clerks who could not care less and had no customer service skills whatsoever... and they charged more than the "real" lawyers dealing with our purchase. By the time we got around to recruiting them I had already decided not to give PPL any more business. Had it not been going to cost even more to change selling solicitors by that time, I would have given that job to the "real" ones.

grayme-m

Smodlet wrote: »

We used them four years ago because our selling EA recommended them (yeah, I know better now, thanks) They were atrocious. They are just a bunch of conveyancers, as far as I could tell... I formed the opinion they were staffed by a bunch of first year law students/articled clerks who could not care less and had no customer service skills whatsoever... and they charged more than the "real" lawyers dealing with our purchase. By the time we got around to recruiting them I had already decided not to give PPL any more business. Had it not been going to cost even more to change selling solicitors by that time, I would have given that job to the "real" ones.

I don't work in the business, but in my opinion the issue is they are far from 'a bunch of conveyancers', one of which is all you need when buying or selling a house.

IMHO, you have one overseeing way too many cases, with most (lack of) contact and action by clerks who appear to have no legal training or intentions of having any, giving the level of service you describe.

Didn't want people to think the issue was they were not lawyers (despite their name, but then they aren't premier nor know much about property neither), the issue is that most of their staff are not conveyancers.

A high street conveyancer should be a better bet.

BLB53

Unfortunately, my purchasers were tempted into employing these people for the sale of their own house and then the purchase of mine.

Here's a link to a thread on Motley Fool

http://boards.fool.co.uk/i-guess-being-retired-and-not-having-moved-house-13451634.aspx?result=ReplySubmitted

ElsieMonkey

vinny007 wrote: »

Yes, we used premier property lawyers last year when we bought and sold a house. We were referred to them from the tesco website.

I have to say we were VERY impressed with them!!

Our estate agents thought we were crazy, and cheap skates for using them rather than a local solicitor, but I thought they were excellent, and a much better service than the local based solicitor we used on a previous move.

I thought they were good because although you have a dedicated case handler, they always keep your case updated so that when they are not around, anyone else there can pick it up and tell you exactly what the status is, as well as enabling you to check yourself on the internet, outside of office hours which was useful. They are also available much later in the day than a standard high street solicitor, which is always useful!

At each significant stage in the buying and selling process we were notified promptly by text message as well as a phone call so we were constantly kept up to date. They were always accessible and helpful which is what you want from a conveyancer. Personally I would not hesitate to use them again!

Vinny

I agree with this. We are using them. Are yet to exchange/complete but we have had a nightmare sale (buyer number 5 now) over the last 14 months and have been with them all this time. They get stuff done when they say and deal with things quickly. Also have an online dashboard where docs are uploaded/submitted and you can keep track of progress etc. Maybe it depends who you personally get allocated but we have had 2 different solicitors with them over the 14 months and both have been good.

jezport

I used them and my experience was terrible.
They don't return calls, They fob you off with anything to get you off the phone.
It took them over 11 months to do the work on a basic purchase and registration. They told me that the land registry can take over 10 months to process a registration!!!
I would advise using a proper solicitor who is local, who you can go round to if you need see them to.
The only way I got them moving was to get my brother in law who is an estate agent to threaten them with a complaint to the Law Society. Then suddenly everything was sorted!

13579ddd

Help - my vendors are using these guys. It's taken 5 month, we are not yet exchanged and are causing a great deal of stress for everyone involved - it's has taken a lot of pushing and shoving for them to supply us with any information and are not always honest. I'm really afraid that we will not complete and not sure what I can do.

grayme-m

Can you resell quickly? If yes, you could tell them to change conveyancer or you'll go back on the market. Maybe the threat is enough for them to do so.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. The best you may do is to just get your buyer's contact details and hound them daily to chase PPL.

freddyf

I am currently in month 10 of an incredibly slow exchange. Of these 10 months, when you look at the paper trail, Premier Property Lawyers have caused a little over 2 months in delays. The conveyance assigned to your case is never contactable, when you ask to be forwarded to a member of their team, whoever picks up the phone cannot work on your case but merely "leave a note" against your case while you hope your phantom solicitor will get on it. All post arrives to their depot where it is scanned and forwarded to the solicitors to work on. If the solicitor needs the original document they need to "recall" it from the postal depot which has taken 10 days so far at the time of writing and I am still waiting. This is a classic case of how looks can deceive. The great front end to their website and app is let down by terrible internal process and the inability for a client to escalate a case to a manager.

grayme-m

Are they 'solicitors' or are they too few conveyancers [no disrespect meant to conveyancers] with unqualified admin support staff?