"Do not use - poor communication and service"

I am extremely disappointed with the conveyancing services provided. Despite a straightforward, non-chain transaction, the sale of my property fell through after six months due to a significant lack of communication and progress. Promised updates were not fulfilled, leading to the loss of the sale and substantial monthly costs. Attempts to escalate the issue and request a discussion were ignored. This level of service is unprofessional and unacceptable. I will not be using their services again and seek an explanation for the poor communication and failed sale.

"Great communication"

Great communication, a last minute issue was resolved swiftly. The buyers solicitor was very slow and poor. I was always confident that Stephens Wilmot were on top of the process and professionally kept the things moving. Thank you Natalie.

"First Class Service"

We have just exchanged and Aimee and Shauna have been great managing the sale and purchase, despite the various ups and downs along the way. I would highly recommend them

"Caroline Facey Solicitor"

Caroline Facey was our appointed Solicitor and we found her efficient and proactive. We particularly appreciated that she answered the phone personally when we had a query.

"Straight forward conveyancer"

I had a remote sale and needed a solicitor nearer by to help. Stephens Wilmot stepped up to the plate and made the sale go through smoothly despite many nuances. Took a lot of the stress out of the situation.

"Amazing job"

Cheryl Head and her team did an amazing job as my solicitor for the purchase of my first property.
I really appreciate her effort and recommend her to anyone planning to buy a property.

"Cheryl Head was our solicitor and was…"

Cheryl Head was our solicitor and was always patient and a very good communicator. Cheryl made the process very smooth, despite some complications along the way

"Thank you "

Thank you to Natalie and Sara. They have been professional with their advice and knowledge. They have explained things clearly and communication has been prompt and proactive. Thank you :)

"Save yourself!!!!! 🤯"

I recently purchased a house in Eltham, and as a first-time buyer, I chose this firm based on comparison websites and some research. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a nightmare from the beginning. Our case handler, Lindsey, was so unprofessional and unresponsive throughout. We had to chase her multiple times for any updates, and she even went on annual leave two days before our exchange without informing us. Despite sending the entire deposit and legal fees that week, we were informed by the real estate agency that the exchange couldn’t happen because Lindsey was on leave (starting 2nd August - Friday). This left us waiting until the following Monday.
Then our case was transferred to Kathryn but she was not good either. She reviewed our case in the following week and discovered that the witness in the contract cannot be my husband. So, we need to re-sign n send the documents again. Upon asking that why this was not pointed out before as we sent these documents five weeks ago (in the last week of June’24) - no clear answer was given as it just a pure case of negligence - we signed again and resend it. This negligence caused further delays. And this wasn’t it - again we were asked to submit an additional document to our mortgage bank, another oversight on their part, as while submitting the gift deed it was quite clear that my husband will be staying with me (this document was sent in middle of July) but Lindsey didn’t pointed out that any additional documents would be needed by mortgage house in such case. During this time, our sellers were waiting eagerly to exchange, while our solicitors continued to make mistake after mistake.

Both parties eventually agreed to exchange and complete on the 9th of August. We informed our current apartment owner and all utility providers about our move date. However, a day before the exchange, Kathryn contacted us again, stating that an insurance document was missing, which is usually covered by the seller. If we wanted to exchange the next day, we were told we had to pay for it. Against the advice of the real estate agency, who told that such thing isn’t needed in our particular case but we paid the fee anyway as feeling trapped by their last-minute requests.(this was placed so well last minute by our legal team as we didn’t left with any time to check other vendors or is there even any need of it for us instead we decided just to go for the policy that Kathryn sent to us)
But all this was not it for us, the worst yet to come - On the day of exchange/completion - 9th August - Kathryn initially confirmed that the mortgage funds had been received and that the process would proceed as planned. However, an hour later, she informed us that the seller was only agreeing to exchange that day and wanted to delay completion until the 16th of August. This sudden change caused us additional stress, as we had to extend our lease, rearrange utility bills, and reschedule our moving vehicle, all while incurring extra costs, including an additional week of rent and mortgage interest. (As Kathryn advised us that she can request the refund of mortgage fund n re-request it again next week but it will be an unnecessary exercise). Anyway, it wasn’t anyone business other than us as a buyers we felt completed trapped and just blindly agreeing to all cost to close the process ASAP. Although, we did called estate agency to check why seller requested this delay but they blamed our solicitor whose unprofessional way of dealing our case and so much delays has given the leverage to the seller to the very last minute as the seller solicitor were following up since last week to exchange. (To which I completely agreed, they even told us the seller’s solicitor is even thinking to file formal complaint against our solicitor team as they never came across such unprofessional counterpart).

Finally, on the 16th of August, we received a call from Kathryn stating that everything was completed and we can collect the keys from the estate agency. She mentioned that they would refund a small fee to us, which was highly insignificant compared to all the additional costs we incurred due to their unprofessional behaviour and negligence but anyway we haven’t received that refund either.
Our experience shows that we received sub-standard legal advice, with multiple instances of negligence, unprofessionalism, and an attempt to extract additional fees. I would strongly recommend avoiding this firm, especially if you’re a first-time buyer.

"Aimee Wright was great at communicating…"

Aimee Wright was great at communicating with us during our first time buying experience which made the whole process a lot easier. Would reccomend.