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Anyone used Premier Property Lawyers?

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  • whysitallsocomplicated
    whysitallsocomplicated Posts: 48 Forumite
    edited 22 October 2010 at 7:37AM
    Hi
    seems to bit a lot of differant oppinions on these people, though I imagine that if I polled everyone who had used our local firm I would get the same range of oppinions.

    They are half way through managing both my sale and purchase at the momment. To date the service has been very good, they have answered all my enquiries quickly either by email or over the phone. I like the way i can check the status of the sale and purchase on line at any time.

    Looking at the previous posts I imagine a lot comes down to the case handler you get. We have a lady called Tasneem, she may be in England, India or on the moon. where ever she is I am not sure and dont really care. She contacts me when she needs too and answers my emails and calls back if I cant get her when I call.

    The price qouted is reasonable and favourable to the last time we moved. Yes there may be other charges we have to pay if eventuality dictates, but these have been detailed in the paperwork we have recieved and again are in line with those of local firms we have used.

    This is an internet based firm and as such performs very well so far. I will post a complete review post completion and give my overall impresion of the service.

    Tim, you seem to have a big issue with this firm - can you let us know why?

    many thanks
  • hi i am using them at the moment, initially i was impressed, now i am despairing. They are handling both the sale and purchase of a property. We are almost at the exchange of contract stage, which as of today i am not sure will even take place!
    Rather than them contacting me, i have had to contact them for updates, my case handler is currently on holiday and information given out today by a worker - turned out to be incorrect and potentially dangerous for me as a seller. They will happily bang out faxes with disjointed information, give incomplete answers to queries etc. It has even got to the stage where i am insisting on letters and faxes being passed via me prior to going out to the purchaser.
    Work only tends to happen on a friday - late afternoon, with often unsatisfactory responses illiciting yet more stress filled weekends where nothing will happen until the following monday when you will be told that they will follow it up and 'let you know'. Needless to say their idea of 'following it up' can be an attempt to contact the other parties solicitor - once - then give up till the next time you harrass them to do so again!
    Two exchange dates have now been and gone and i am no further forward so am in complete despair that this will actually happen. Even today information about deposits was incorrect with my buyer left thinking that it was ok to only give £2500 instead of the normal 10%....which means the deposit would be £19k. A huge differenece as you can see - do they phone and make amends - not a hope, they leave you to deal with the fall out of their actions - thankfully i have amazing estate agents who have gone above and beyond requirements to try to iron out the issues caused by premier. I would not say avoid them as i am sure there are experienced staff but on the whole i would say proceed with your eyes open and only if you have the time (and patience) to deal with them!
  • Dommo
    Dommo Posts: 1 Newbie
    Do not use this service as advised by yourmove....... Despite having hips details, no chain, an empty property and no negotiations on price it took these amateurs longer to complete a sale than my solicitors took almost 30 years ago, which at the time was a complicated sale. It takes them over7 days to clear credit card payments and they continually "pass the buck". They appear to be luddites with regard to technology... It is 2011 yet they behave like they are stuck in the 50's.

    Never never again.................. Be warned.
    Complain .... And you get a corporate smokescreen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • Ulfar
    Ulfar Posts: 1,309 Forumite
    I have used this firm twice once for a sale and once for a purchase.

    The sale was ok but then I provided all the information they would ever need up front.

    The purchase I am afraid was a nightmare, they are slow to do anything and sudden extra charges suddenly pop up.

    The chain I was in consisted of the property I was buying and one other that my vendors were buying. Things only started moving miraculously quickly when I found out my vendors were also using them. After finding out this when I next called and they tried to fob me off that they had had responses from the vendors solicitor, I asked my case handler why she didn't pop round to his desk and ask him for the details as they worked for the same firm.
  • fozzylozzy
    fozzylozzy Posts: 42 Forumite
    Yes, we used them through HouseNetwork for the sale and purchase of our property and were really impressed. We had an efficient, reliable case handler who always responded to any query we made and never failed to get back to us if we left a message.

    Would recommend them to anyone!

    Louisa
  • I used this company last year when I completed my first property purchase in August. My case handler was really nice and always easy to contact and he was happy to pick up the phone to speak to me rather than bombard me with emails. Also, as a first time buyer on my own, I found it good to have a set price for the legal fees so I could work out my budget.

    HOWEVER! I have since had some big problems with some paperwork not going through (I'd requested a section 42 notice to be served so I could extend my lease) and it turns out this was never done, despite me refusing to exchange contracts until it was done. Feeling very let down about this and it could possibly cost me a lot of money to rectify.
  • FTBFun
    FTBFun Posts: 4,273 Forumite
    Some mixed messages here it seems.

    I used them for a FTB leasehold purchase last year without any real problems - offer to completion was about 5 weeks so fairly decent. I did need to pay an additional amount a couple of months later, but that was on a demand from the freeholder not anything to do with the conveyancer.

    Put it this way - my local solicitor didn't even bother returning my message asking for a quote, yet I got one from these guys within a couple of hours. At least they made an effort to get my business.
  • jen.lap
    jen.lap Posts: 5 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Name Dropper First Post Photogenic
    Hello

    Has anyone out there used premier property Lawyers and received an "Asset Inventory" from them?

    I have recently completed was shocked when certain things had been removed (integrated washing machine, furniture and various other things from the apartment. The Estate Agent advised me at the time of viewing these things would be staying yet at the time of completion and exchange some 5 weeks later they had gone.

    I was told that I should have had an "Asset Inventory" drawn up by my solicitor as a minimum, which would detail everything that was included in the purchase; this document has never been seen.

    Now the solicitor is not returning my calls or emails.

    Has anyone else had any similar experience and what did you do?

    Hope to hear your responses soon

    Jen
  • geoffky
    geoffky Posts: 6,835 Forumite
    I nipped into my local solicitors when a problem arose and that was often,,,local is worth its weight in gold as far as i am concerned..bucketshop conveyancers messed up the last sale on this house big time that it took a land registry meeting at the house to sort out...
    It is nice to see the value of your house going up'' Why ?
    Unless you are planning to sell up and not live anywhere, I can;t see the advantage.
    If you are planning to upsize the new house will cost more.
    If you are planning to downsize your new house will cost more than it should
    If you are trying to buy your first house its almost impossible.
  • First, let me declare a bias in this matter, as I am a solicitor working in a small high street firm and am not a fan of Conveyancing Factories.

    The potential advantage of "Bucketshop"conveyancing lies in the thesis that the house purchase/sale process can be standardised.To an extent it can, and virtually all solicitors use precedent forms, and the same legal frameworks for their transactions. But then there are two factors which push conveyancing cloning from the realm of futuristic sci-fi to that of Hammer House of Horror.

    They are (1) property; and (2) people.

    Every property is different, and although there are many shared features between them, I would say that around 30% of all properties in England and Wales have some sort of issue with them, whether it's a discrepancy on the plan, a right of way issue, planning or building regulations queries, and for leaseholds any number of problems from service charge discrepancies to poorly drafted covenants. That's on top of any structural defect.

    Of course on top of this every person is different. A lot of people are not sure if they want to move at all, and buying a property is a lot like falling in love. Is this the one for me? Others want to move yesterday, or are being repossessed, or cannot move until six months' time.

    So these are challenges for Conveyancing Factories.

    What they do is to delegate the day to day running of files to "case handlers", who are rarely qualified. When certain stages are reached, the file is signed off by someone more qualified. So 90% of the action on a file is done by someone paid half of an assistant solcitor's salary.

    But if there is a problem, the result is always delay. It has to be, as problems are generally only picked up at the supervision stage.

    However this should be cheaper than having a solicitor do all of your case. But the cost is added to by the need for factories to advertise and pay referral fees (otherwise known as bribes) for work. Up to 45% of the amount you pay to a factory may be paid out as referral fees. These have to be disclosed and so you should read the small print.

    I don't like referral fees and wll not pay them. if people instruct me then they are entitled to expect that what they pay goes towards remunerating me and my staff properly but not excessively.

    I suppose my conclusion is that if you are absolutely confident your property transaction will suit a bucketshop approach, then use them; but don't go via an intermediary. Go directly.
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