Countrywide Conveyancing/HSBC - avoid like the plague if you want to complete

LiveOnce

I would not recommend Countrywide Lawyers either.

asturdy2

we are buying a house which is using countrywide, its been a nightmare ! They have delayed and not answered my solicitors questions. We still don't have an exchange date and this has been going on since the middle of October.

dominoman

betmunch wrote: »

Its a known problem, theres loads of threads on here about it, and now one more!!!

One poster had to pay an extra £600 to their solicitor as the solicitor charged him for the extra hassle of dealing with Countrywide! Another reported that his solicitor was now refusing to take clients that were buying with an HSBC mortgage!!!

Its a huge own goal by HSBC!

We were asked who our mortgage application was with by a seller's agent and they also told us that the seller was not accepting offers from anyone with an HSBC mortgage.

kingstreet

dominoman wrote: »

We were asked who our mortgage application was with by a seller's agent and they also told us that the seller was not accepting offers from anyone with an HSBC mortgage.

How long ago was that?

The Countrywide/HSBC issue was resolved last year when it started accepting any CQS accredited firm to act for it, in most cases.

I still wouldn't use Countrywide though.

ajhands

I would also like to add my opinion to this thread given it is the number 2 Google result for "Countrywide Conveyancing Services"! That is, that I have found the CCS appointed solicitors, Runnett and Co. to be extremely slow and unresponsive. I have also asked other people now and it seems CCS has a reputation as being slow and if I knew then what I know now about the experience of using CCS, I would certainly not choose to use them, nor will I be using them for any house purchases in future. While I understand that the staff at Miller's are obliged to sell Countrywide conveyancing services, it undermines the trust and opinion of every house purchaser when they have been sold a poor service. I have only good things to say about the dealings I have had with all of the team at Miller's in Penryn but am annoyed and frustrated at how long these solicitors have made a simple chain-free mortgage-free house purchase drag on. I will warn others about using CCS and Runnett and will post reviews online to the same effect. I should have done my research first! 119 1 star reviews to just 8 5 star reviews on a popular review site!

Jeffrey_Shaw

Moral: use a proper solicitor who knows what he/she is doing, rather than a cheaper online firm where the person handling your file might well not be a solicitor at all but just an employee.

rhi_uk30

Does anyone know exactly how you check which 43 firms are on HSBC's panel?
Given above comments want to avoid Countrywide, how do I found out which firms I can choose ffrom?

SmlSave

HSBC ditched their strict panel a while ago so most solicitors are now ok. Get some quotes and check with the solicitors themselves.

Richard_Webster

HSBC ditched their strict panel a while ago so most solicitors are now ok. Get some quotes and check with the solicitors themselves.

Specifically check if the firm is CQS accredited. If you are borrowing more than £150K then you need a firm with more than one partner.

There are plenty of CQS practices around so you shouldn't have a problem finding one that you are happy with.

rhi_uk30

Tricky - our seller wants us to use a specific conveyance firm which I can't find on the CQS list on the law society's website. Have to see what HSBC say when we ask if we can use them.