Has anyone dealt with Alexander JLO Solicitors for conveyancing?

TonyMartin

Hello,


Sorry but I don't usually post to forums but this topic interests me.


I never heard of Alex JLO until fairly recently and I know nothing else but what I have heard and seen from other peoples correspondence.


I do not want to be too critical but you might want to look for find a slightly more expensive firm to handle your sale/purchase than this one.
(Expensive firms do not always guarantee success so also check out other peoples experiences before deciding.)
All of the negative issues mentioned here I can confirm. Their timeframes are ridiculous and they never meet Estate Agent/Solicitor guidelines for completing on time.

I do not know what their problem is but from everything I have heard (including from an Estate Agent) all the negative comments appear to be similar in complaints to a number of other experiences of different buyers/sellers. I would exercise a lot of caution before choosing a firm where I might loose the chance to buy/sell a property because of their slowness.

I know of one sale which fell through (I was told by the Estate Agent) because they did not
exchange and complete in time (after 10 weeks when it should have been 8) and the property owner simply got frustrated and decided to withdraw the property and sell through another Agent.
The first Estate Agents complained but because no completion was agreed the seller was able to withdraw and sell through another Estate Agency.
(Alex JLO knew the property had been withdrawn from the Estate Agents. They still could have completed but the owner got a sale through another local firm four weeks after giving up on Alex JLO ever completing.)
The Estate Agents were also very frustrated as they too could not contact the conveyancer dealing with the sale/purchase and were always told that nobody else was available to speak to.
(If you call Alex JLO on the phone they will always say that they all deal with conveyancing - giving the false impression that you are in good hands. Don't believe it.)
After withdrawing the property from the Estate Agents because of the slowness of Alex JLO I understand that he sold it in a matter of 4 weeks through another Estate Agent and with his same solicitors.
(He made known his problems with Alex JLO to the new Estate Agents - who were sympathetic because they too had heard of the firm through other sellers/purchasers and prospective purchasers and they did not use Alexander JLO for the transaction. He told me they (the firm acting for the other party) were slightly more expensive but they were highly efficient and he was so glad they used them because he sold his property in record time and the new purchasers were very happy.
(The original purchasers complained to Alex JLO because they lost a property they had set their hearts on because of Alex JLO's slowness. I don't know what the outcome was.)
They (Alex JLO) blamed the collapsed sale matter on the buyers/ sellers other solicitors but it happens that I know the other company very well (the ones involved in the transaction which fell through for the seller) and they have a very good track record with no negative comments. He (my friend) used this same firm for the second transaction and was also happy with their approach and how efficient they dealt with phone calls and emails and the details and update reports they provided before completion of the sale.


That's all I know.

hazyjo

TonyMartin wrote: »

Hello,


Sorry but I don't usually post to forums but this topic interests me.


I never heard of Alex JLO until fairly recently and I know nothing else but what I have heard and seen from other peoples correspondence.


I do not want to be too critical but you might want to look for find a slightly more expensive firm to handle your sale/purchase than this one.
(Expensive firms do not always guarantee success so also check out other peoples experiences before deciding.)
All of the negative issues mentioned here I can confirm. Their timeframes are ridiculous and they never meet Estate Agent/Solicitor guidelines for completing on time.

I do not know what their problem is but from everything I have heard (including from an Estate Agent) all the negative comments appear to be similar in complaints to a number of other experiences of different buyers/sellers. I would exercise a lot of caution before choosing a firm where I might loose the chance to buy/sell a property because of their slowness.

I know of one sale which fell through (I was told by the Estate Agent) because they did not
exchange and complete in time (after 10 weeks when it should have been 8) and the property owner simply got frustrated and decided to withdraw the property and sell through another Agent.
The first Estate Agents complained but because no completion was agreed the seller was able to withdraw and sell through another Estate Agency.
(Alex JLO knew the property had been withdrawn from the Estate Agents. They still could have completed but the owner got a sale through another local firm four weeks after giving up on Alex JLO ever completing.)
The Estate Agents were also very frustrated as they too could not contact the conveyancer dealing with the sale/purchase and were always told that nobody else was available to speak to.
(If you call Alex JLO on the phone they will always say that they all deal with conveyancing - giving the false impression that you are in good hands. Don't believe it.)
After withdrawing the property from the Estate Agents because of the slowness of Alex JLO I understand that he sold it in a matter of 4 weeks through another Estate Agent and with his same solicitors.
(He made known his problems with Alex JLO to the new Estate Agents - who were sympathetic because they too had heard of the firm through other sellers/purchasers and prospective purchasers and they did not use Alexander JLO for the transaction. He told me they (the firm acting for the other party) were slightly more expensive but they were highly efficient and he was so glad they used them because he sold his property in record time and the new purchasers were very happy.
(The original purchasers complained to Alex JLO because they lost a property they had set their hearts on because of Alex JLO's slowness. I don't know what the outcome was.)
They (Alex JLO) blamed the collapsed sale matter on the buyers/ sellers other solicitors but it happens that I know the other company very well (the ones involved in the transaction which fell through for the seller) and they have a very good track record with no negative comments. He (my friend) used this same firm for the second transaction and was also happy with their approach and how efficient they dealt with phone calls and emails and the details and update reports they provided before completion of the sale.


That's all I know.

Forgive me but you sound very naive re timings. Average (freehold. Longer for leasehold) is 12 weeks from offer to completion. That means, for example, some will take 8, others 16. Often naff all to do with the solicitors. We wanted to exchange within 3 weeks! Took 5 months to complete - not because of Alexander JLO. I certainly don't hold them responsible.

8 weeks to complete is quite short (and the four weeks you mention is extremely rare!) and although the solicitors can turn things around quickly and try to complete in 8 weeks, it's never guaranteed.

neilio

I used Alexander JLO on my flat sale last autumn, and have mixed opinions of them. Mary Spiteri-Panayi was my assigned solicitor. I stupidly and naively went with them because they were suggested by the estate agent, Felicity J Lord.

Conversely, my buyer had shopped around and they got themselves a very experienced 'old skool' lawyer representing them. The buyer's solicitor didn't like that the property was 100%-staircased former shared ownership and basically tried to put the buyer off proceeding. Mary cleverly was able to suggest a way of varying the lease and removing restrictions from land registry titles to satisfy the buyer. I was told by her and the EA that the buyer's male solicitor with 45+ years of experience felt undermined by a younger female solicitor, and took every opportunity to undermine her abilities going forward, and the whole transaction was incredibly painful. Mary did get through it, and I saw the buyer's solicitor's letters - he was incredibly difficult and belligerent.

That said, there were a couple of times Mary could've done better. We had already provided a letter to the buyer that there was no service charge deficit up to the date of said letter. Bear in mind that was one of the first pieces of correspondence, so ten weeks later the buyer's solicitor requested again that all service charge would be paid up to the date of completion. Mary maintained that the letter was satisfactory, and a stalemate ensued where both solicitors were making swipes at each other over this remaining issue and I couldn't understand what the problem was. I even contacted the buyer directly to find out why their solicitor wasn't listening to us. Turns out it was a very simple question requiring a very simple answer, as the letter was out of date by the time of exchange. Mary should've realised this as even I could see that was the case.

The other thing that irritated me was Mary only ever sent requests for information to the freeholder of my block to a generic mailbox that the freeholder had a 10-working day SLA to respond to. This was incredibly frustrating as I had to constantly telephone the freeholder myself to chase for quick turnarounds. Through no fault of Mary, the freeholder messed up a few times, so I was able to use that as leverage for them to respond to me a lot quicker, which they did. But Mary should've been doing that, not me, despite me giving her telephone numbers and names of people to speak to.

Mary was perfectly fine when I spoke to her, but in the future I would definitely research a good law firm to use. Alexander JLO weren't slick enough for me.

miserable_mortgage

not good......Don't take their services