Anyone used Premier Property Lawyers?

Crashandburn

So when a local established firm pays a referral fee, is this is classed as a bribe too? Or is their payment more dignified than this.

Mistakes will happen with factories and established solicitors....fact. Ideally these should be avoided at all costs but rectified where they can.

Also an intermediary can get a reduced price than the headline rate based on their volumes so worth comparing the two.

And before timmymallet says so, I don't and have never worked for premier. Just my 2p

Raine50

I moved in 2007 and can only quote my experience from using this Company:
PPL changed my case handler one week before completion date. Landlord’s enquiries only arrived 5 days before completion date and stated that £12,000 service charge expenses were due after completion. I panicked as scared sale would fall through but, in hindsight, PPL should have insisted on receipt of this information a lot earlier. The new case handler said that she had gained verbal agreement that these expenses would not be due immediately but this was not obtained in writing – I should have insisted I suppose. Hence, I am still arguing against these costs 3 years after moving in.
After completion I discovered that the service charge percentages quoted on the 3 leases which make up my block was outdated as one of the 3 flats had a large extension built 2 years previously and should therefore pay a larger percentage (something I feel the case handler should have been able to establish in their enquiries). I am now left paying towards the maintenance of this extension for exterior works and scaffolding costs or face going to court for a deed of variation.
One of the service charges mentioned in the Landlord’s enquiries required me to pay one-third of the costs for a replacement atrium attached to my property, although have since discovered that the atrium is not on my lease at all and therefore in the communal area – have had enormous problems with the Landlord over this.
The car parking space does not exist! It is marked on the plans as being the middle one in a block of 5 spaces but the reality is that there are only 4 spaces (perhaps I should have checked this?).
All in all, I would definitely pay the extra money for a decent solicitor next time I move – as you can see, I don’t have a great understanding of the legal side. I know that solicitors/case handlers do not actually visit the property being sold/purchased but I feel that there was not much guidance or advice from PPL when problems arose – they are fine if the sale/purchase is straight-forward perhaps.

superbabe612

We used a local solicitor for an LPA. They got one of the names of the Attorneys wrong which means we have to do a separate one and register it again at a cost of £300. When trying to rectify the problem I was asked to stop emailing our solicitor as it 'took up too much of her time' and that she 'did have other clients'.
At the same time we used the same firm for the sale of my father-in-law's house. I asked them repeatedly to contact the buyer's solicitor regarding a query over Radon Gas. They spent a week saying 'they haven't mentioned it' before the buyer pulled out (fortunately the estate agent managed to get them back on board).
The LPA wasn't registered in time for the planned exchange date and delayed the sale by 2 weeks, which could have been avoided if our solicitor had checked this earlier. At the time we did the LPA, I told the solicitor we were in the process of selling the property and she said there would be plenty of time and there was no need for an interim document.
Our solicitor also dealt with our house purchase until the day we were due to exchange when I'd finally had enough of their inefficiency, their lack of response, their complete lack of proactivity, and their insistence of asking unnecessary questions by post when I was in daily contact with them by email. Their failure to deal with an enquiry from our mortgage lender promptly meant that we couldn't exchange on the day we planned, which meant I had to pay another month's rent, and our buyer wanted to delay the completion date.

I then switched to Premier Property Lawyers. They quoted me a similar price to my previous solicitor, within an hour of my initial enquiry. The same evening they called me to discuss my case and explained how things would work. The next working day I received an email confirming the online tracking details, my initial documents were online and they responded to our buyer's solicitor immediately. They dealt with the ID documentation and searches as soon as they got them, they text and emailed me to update me on the situation and our conveyancer phoned me 3 times in the first week alone. I have given them the proposed dates for exchange and completion and (fingers crossed) we hope to be homeowners within 5 weeks of instructing PPL.

Admittedly there are varied opinions in this thread but I think it's unfair to suggest all positive recommendations are ficticious.
It's also naive to think that it's only conveyancing factories who delegate the day to day running of files to under-qualified "case handlers". I'd much prefer the work to be done correctly and in a reasonable time by a 'case handler', than for me to be consistently ignored and patronised by a named local solicitor; the only time I actually received a timely and helpful response was from a secretary; even an associate solicitor who was covering the solicitor's work when she went on holiday without prior notice (the week of exchange on our sale) didn't know as much about the case as she should have done.

My mum recently said she would never use a solicitor for conveyancing work again; she would only use a specialist conveyancing firm.
Admittedly if I'd read this thread before instructing PPL, I may have hesitated, but as things stand, I'm glad I didn't. I feel a lot more positive and confident that our case is being dealt with professionally and promptly, and the process is far less stressful than when I was dealing with 'local' solicitors (even though we had to go to their head office to sign the final documents!). I wish I'd chosen them first!

nuffchuff

were using ppl a total load of junk never get back to you they must have only have incomming calls because they never call you back cant wait to complete then give them hell:cool:

superbabe612

timmyt wrote: »

I then switched to Premier Property Lawyers. They quoted me a similar price to my previous solicitor exactly, and yet you dont get one , within an hour of my initial enquiry. The same evening they called me to discuss my case and explained how things would work. The next working day I received an email confirming the online tracking details bad start being fobbed off to a website rather than detailed regular updates , my initial documents were online so you have to log in and filll in...and they responded to our buyer's solicitor immediately doubtful. They dealt with the ID documentation and searches as soon as they got them, they text and emailed me to update me on the situation and our conveyancer phoned me 3 times in the first week alone. I have given them the proposed dates for exchange and completion and (fingers crossed) we hope to be homeowners within 5 weeks of instructing PPL.

me dont believe you...are you telling fibs...come on...are you???

Like I said, I'd rather have an efficient and productive case-handler than a condescending and incompetent solicitor any day.
The website means I can check my case's progress 24/7, as opposed to having my calls and emails to a solicitor being ignored. (Detailed updates? My previous solicitor didn't even show us the fixture and fittings report; I had to find out from our buyer that they wanted to delay completion if the exchange was delayed)
Filling in details online means I don't have to wait for correspondence to come through the post, fill it out by hand, buy a stamp, send it back, and wait for somebody to read it then ask me the very same question (by post).
I can upload documents to the PPL website one day, and they have been processed the next.
I had confirmation from the estate agent that PPL responded to our buyer's solicitor on the same day, and our buyer has said how impressed they are with their efficiency.

I am sure there are plenty of positive and negative opinions of local solicitors and online conveyancers, but I am simply describing my experience and expressing my preference. No fibbing!

AnimalMother86

Funny that superbabe mentions condescending and incompetent solicitors and then timmy (sorry, do you prefer Tim?) rears his ugly head!

Your ravings are starting to make you sound a bit desperate, my friend. And not offering case tracking??? This shows you up for the backward thinking moron a lot of people on this forum take you for...take a look around - case tracking is what clients want! Also, I think you'll find the PPL online service is a bit different to what you've described...but there's nothing like shooting your mouth off without having a clue what you're on about, eh?

At the moment the only thing stopping a proper technological revolution of the conveyancing industry is dinosaurs like you who think a Blackberry and a binding machine are the pinnacle of innovation - completion times would be weeks quicker if only forward thinking firms didn't have to deal with you and your ilk on a daily basis.

It's all about giving clients the service they want - so why not quit passing judgment on what other people are doing and look to your own service. A bound report? For christ's sake, that's just what people moving into a new house want - more documents to lose amidst the chaos! Of all the USP's for conveyancing firms, that has to be the most ridiculous I've seen.

And you shout about all the hidden extras conveyancers charge, whilst sitting smug and pretentious in your ivory tower...but haven't you said that you charge clients extra money if they contact you a bit more than you'd like??? If that isn't blatant cashing in on a client who is understandably nervous and wary of the conveyancing process, then I don't know what is.

What other sneaky charges do you add on down at Trethowans?

maryhillgirl

My son is in the process of buying a house back here in Lancashire and selling his property in Yorkshire. I recommended he instruct the large, local firm of solicitors which we have used for various purposes over the last 35 years. He is currently living with me, and asked that all correspondence be sent to him at my address.
What a nightmare...I'm gutted at the incompetence he has experienced. The so-called solicitor handling his conveyance is incapable of following the simplest instructions. She has persisted in sending important documents eg draft contracts, to his Yorkshire address and it is only by chance that he discovered this on making a trip back to the house he's selling. The blame was laid on the secretary. She now appears to have mislaid all the original guarantees and warranties provided by my son, as requested by his buyer's solicitor. God knows what else she's done wrong, I can barely bring myself to imagine.
As soon as the office opens on Monday, I'll be standing in reception demanding a consultation with the senior partner who I hope will take on my son's file and ensure that his incompetent staff are suitably admonished/retrained/bollocked for their complete lack of care and attention to detail.
So, to summarise, using a well-known, long-established, award-winning firm of solicitors is no more a guarantee of good efficient service than plucking a name off the internet. The whole experience has been horribly stressful and we would happily sack this firm off if we weren't so far into the process, and if my son hadn't already paid £300 up front for searches etc.
Can't wait til tomorrow morning, see what excuses they come up with this time!

scarletjim

maryhillgirl wrote: »

...we would happily sack this firm off if we weren't so far into the process, and if my son hadn't already paid £300 up front for searches etc.

I'm a total newbie to this so I'm definitely asking rather than telling , but if they are supposedly acting on your behalf, aren't they obliged to send you the searches if you want? Then you could presumably sack them and give the searches to another solicitor = no money wasted. Or is it not as simple as that?

maryhillgirl

I'll see what happens tomorrow when I've battled my way in to talk to the guy in charge of conveyancing. It just seems so much of a hassle in the middle of all the other stress that surrounds house moving/relocating/new job etc. I'm hoping they can reassure us that they do have someone more competent and able who can take oversee my son's case. I'm prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt and hope they can sort it out. After all, I've been a client there for years. The partner who dealt with all our own house moves has, sadly for us, retired, and would be horrified if he knew what was currently going on.

superbabe612

scarletjim wrote: »

I'm a total newbie to this so I'm definitely asking rather than telling , but if they are supposedly acting on your behalf, aren't they obliged to send you the searches if you want? Then you could presumably sack them and give the searches to another solicitor = no money wasted. Or is it not as simple as that?

We sacked our solicitor on the day we were supposed to exchange contracts, so it's never too late! We'd paid in advance for the searches and we got them sent to us within a few days, thus saving time and money.

We're hoping to exchange next week, 4 weeks after instructing our new online conveyancer.