“Before retiring I enjoyed 40 plus years working in the residential and commercial property sector, so I am reasonably qualified to comment.
Selling a vacant property via PurpleBricks they stipulated that I must use Premier for my conveyance and assured me they were a capable and competent firm who just happens to pay substantial introduction fees to agents.
To describe Premier PL as abysmal is in my humble opinion praise to which they are not entitled.
Whether you are buying or selling please, please, please go elsewhere for your legal services and save yourself one hell of a lot of grief and stress.
You have been warned ignore me at your own peril.”
“It's a shame there isn't a zero score. Absolutely useless on every score. Never return calls (their mailbox us usually full, so that says it all), and if by some miracle you can speak with someone, they have no idea what's going on. Use a local solicitor - yes SOLICITOR, who will be properly trained and know how to treat customers!”
“STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!
Various solicitors working on my file no consistency at ALL!
Repeatedly asking the same questions - not actually reading the replies sent answered the same questions now 3 times, documents sent 3 times via post, email and scanned to Eway and they still continually ask for them.
My solicitor is very rude to me speaks down to me like I am a nobody cannot get calls back, always chasing them with no response back and if I want to complain I was told by a manager that it would hold my case up even more.
Causing me sleepless night and IBS/Stress they have no regard for customers, what am I actually paying for as I have been chasing around getting answers, I have brought and sold various properties and I have never received such an unprofessional lack of care solicitors in my time.
Premier Property Lawyers are Unprofessional, Rude, Unorganised, paperwork lost, no knowledge on leasehold properties, I was recommend to use this company by Ben Pegg my estate agent and what a mistake this was.
Please stay clear off this company.”
“*****BEST ADVICE CHANGE SOLICITORS IMMEDIATELY*****
No matter where you are in the process with them don't be afraid to bite the bullet and change. Go local to a trustworthy firm where you can actually go into the office and speak to real people.
I had the right to acquire my property from the housing association, this was granted in August 2020.
I have lived in the property since April 2016.
The property has solar panels, and I was offered the option of buying the solar panels on my property, along with the property. The cost of this was offered at an additional £13,100 on top of the purchase price.
Purchasing them was really not an option as we didnt have this amout spare.
The only alternative option was to enter into a roof top lease agreement which we agreed to do. We successfully managed to get a mortgage of NatWest in December 2021.
The NatWest mortgage offer was valid for 6 months, £125,000 was taken over 28 years at 2.73% with monthly repayments of £532.56, totalling £192,305.74 to be repaid.
Initially in the first 4 months PPL didn't do much work at all, there was little to no activity on my account and little contact. I wasn't sure the pace of such things as I'm a first time buyer, so I trusted all was as it should be. But the back end of the initial 6 month period seemed to bring with it many issues which the conveyancer picked out, and there was a lot of back and forth with the housing association requesting amendments etc apparently due to the roof top lease agreement.
I believed this to be normal and went with it, thinking that of course this would all be sorted in the 6 months. However, it was not. I was panicking and so stressed. I had no reassurance from my conveyancer, he just talked loads of conveyancing jargon if I managed to speak to him, in a monotone voice with zero empathy or urgency.
We then applied for a 1 month extension as this was the maximum allowed, meaning we would have had the offer for 7 months. I was getting extremely nervous as I knew interest rates were rising, and also, I knew the stress of applying for a mortgage, and was hoping we would not have to do that again. All the while I was attempting to be in contact with the conveyancer. I had to chase him a lot for updates, a handful of times he offered me an update of his own accord. I found it extremely difficult to get in touch with him, or the team. At this point I was unaware that there were other phone numbers I could call, and I infact had been given a rarely used ‘police mutual’ number for Premier property Lawyers on my eway, was not the main one. I left voice mails and very few (if any) were replied to. I also sent emails. When I did speak to the conveyancer, he was very reserved in giving me any real time scale, just passing the blame to the housing association for the time it was taking. Any reply required by them for anything took them weeks to address. It was the most frustrating experience of my life. An absolute snails pace.
At 7 months the mortgage expired, THEY DIDNT CARE ONE BIT. I then had to go through the stress of reapplying for a mortgage. Sadly, interest rates had risen and the mortgage I was offered was at 3.79% taken over 31 years, paying £562.51 a month, with a total repayment of £233,172.51. As you can see, I had to put more money down as a deposit to try and keep the monthly repayment down, and took it over a longer period.
From then I attempted to ring the conveyancer weekly. Looking at my phone records I had attempted 60 calls since July to nov. Most of those I had been unable to speak to anyone and any messages went unresponded to. When I did managed to speak to the conveyancer, he has maintained that the delay was not with him. The conveyancer advised that within the lease agreement for the solar panels a map is mentioned with colours on it. He said the map that was sent with the solar panel lease agreement does not match the map mentioned within it, due to differing colours, and does not meet the land registry requirements. The housing association said that the map they sent to him in the beginning is the map they use as standard, they have used it on every single sale of right to acquire properties with solar panels. They said there has never once been an issue with it until my case. The housing association maintained they were not at fault and the delay solely lies with PPL.
I repeatedly requested to speak to managers on telephone calls to premier Property Lawyers (when I’ve managed to get through) and been told no-one is available. I had asked for the complaints procedure to be sent and it wasn’t i had to find this myself.
Someone has cost me a lot of money. If we go off the initial estimated completion of December 2021 then I have lost around £5500 in rent alone that could have been made in payments towards the mortgage. In terms of the actual over all repayment, it works out £40,866.77 higher than the original total repayment.
This situation has caused me not only financial implications and loss, but the stress and anxiety I have had is immense,I have also spent a lot of time and effort trying to make contact.
I eventually managed to speak to a team leader and also sent a formal complaint. The team leader was soooo bloody rude I'm annoyed just thinking about it. This was at 15 months in with them and I basically got told its tough. Despite crying and begging him to see it through the eyes of an empathetic human.
My complaint requested them to
'investigate whether there has been any incompetence from Premier Property Lawyers, whether time scales were acceptable, enquiries raised appropriate and sufficient contact and updates'
The response took weeks and basically said 'we're sorry you feel that way, but it's tough you can have £300 off your fees but take it and that's you accepting we're not to blame and you can't sue'
At breaking point with no completion date in sight and now 4 months into our new offer I had to do something as I had zero faith and absolutely no reassurance it would go through. They also suggested there was a new enquiry to be raised. It was like they could only look at one thing at a time. I rang up a trusted local solicitor, sent him everything from PPL that I had and he said wow this should have been 6 months MAX. He took on my case, ordered the searches and it was completed within 6 weeks. I honestly think I'd have been sitting here with a second lost mortgage offer if I stuck with PPL. It should NEVER take 17 months for us to buy the house we were living in. No chain, nothing. Absolute sheer incompetence from PPL.
My advice to you is run while you can. Oh and 1 star is too good but won't let me do a 0!”
“Moving/ purchasing a property is stressful enough- if you hire PPL or are unfortunate to have them involved with your purchase/ sale in ANY capacity- be prepared for stress, high blood pressure and the very real probability of your sale / purchase not going through.
6 months these jokers sat on my purchase, and as a result of their incompetence there is a very real prospect of my proposed purchase not going through.
They are simply not equipped to deal with cases that may require indemnity policies- unless you have a simple case they cannot or will not complete your purchase.
Avoid at all costs- these people need to cease trading immediately.”
“Not sure whether to laugh or cry at these absolute jokers. They really are an incredibly inept, incompetent firm with no human touch. They've held our chain up for months, everybody is waiting on premier property lawyers. I have the unfortunate displeasure of having to work directly with Premier Property Lawyers (Sold to us via Strike Conveyancing).
9 months into an unchained sale, they're still fumbling over their own mistakes and asking repeats of questions covered months ago. They're completely useless and I cannot believe the regulators and banks trust this company to handle properties and money. Our chain is on the brink of collapsing due to this wretched firm and despite this being stressed to them again and again - they simply do not care.
I've never worked with a company as bad as the simplify group / premier property lawyers, they are truly awful. They have not got a clue what they're doing hence why their process takes intolerable and unacceptable lengths of time. Our third parties are made up of a management company, telford homes and a housing associations' legal team - none of them can believe PPL are still tripping over their own incompetence after this many months.
We have proposed to move to completion 5 times now, each time PPL have failed to comply and have subsequently raised pointless or repeated enquiries that serve no legal or lender benefit. We find ourselves answering enquiries already answered months ago.
They cannot even open an email without failing to read the whole thing, repeatedly saying they're waiting on other people however they then realised they missed wording or attachments in emails sat in their inbox.
Please never use this company, they're an absolute shambles.”
“My house sale completed four days ago. I have still not received the proceeds of sale...... because I have not yet purchased another property, I am living in temporary accommodation. I therefore got a P O Box for my mail. They say they cannot pay me my proceeds of sale £250,000 while I have a P O Box so they are hanging on to it...... isnt that theft????”
“Buying a house is probably the most expensive purchase you'll ever make. If you're not careful, it can also be the most stressful. And nothing that Premier Property Lawyers does will reduce that stress in any way (check them out online - they trade under a host of different names....including my home move and Ezie)
They're said to be Britain's largest conveyancer. It might be that your estate agent recommends them - they earn commission for doing so. When bought through your estate agent they seem to 'adopt' the estate agents name....hence PPL were always referred to as Andrew Grant Conveyancing in my dealings, as they were my estate agent
Let me be clear: PPL are a sick joke. Frankly, if you read all the one star reviews from genuine customers and go on to use this company, then, put simply, you're part of the problem
This company has mastered the art of indifference. They don't care. To be fair to them, they don't pretend that they care. If you don't complete on your purchase they don't charge you for your legal fees. You might think that's a great reason to sign up with them, but I understand - do your own research - that they claim off an insurance company to cover the loss - so there's NO incentive for them to be professional, to succeed, to get the job done.....to complete
You cant escape the feeling that you're dealing with a call centre. You'll actually get through to your named conveyancer once in a blue moon. Even then, they appear so snowed under with work that they don't know who you are, don't care about your issues and have no idea what stage your purchase or sale is at.
If you're lucky you'll find your conveyancer has two gears - neutral and first. If you're unlucky, you'll just be stuck in neutral
Their standard turnaround time for enquiries appears to be 11 days. Send them anything. Wait 11 days. Raise a buyer enquiry. 11 days. Bounce it back. Another 11 days. Ask for a financial update - 11 days. Send an email enquiry - 11 days. You get the picture
It should not take over a year to complete the sale of one house and simultaneous purchase of another. And that might not be the average, but that's how long ours took
Come up against a legal issue? Don't expect them to come up with the solution. You do the research. You solve the problem. You just get them to implement it
Their legal expertise for any issue rarely goes beyond: 'We'll get an indemnity for that' (ours typically cost £290 - we wonder how much goes to them....)
No right of way to your new house...
indemnify
Tree preservation order, but no actual tree...
indemnify
No HETAS certificate for your woodburner? indemnify
Loft conversion with no planning permission, even though it only needed building regs...
indemnify
PPL's motto should be: 'If in doubt, get an indemnity out'
It's quite possible you'll pay more in indemnities than the rest of your conveyancing fees in total...so much for their much-vaunted 'fixed fee conveyancing'
As for 'contact counting', forget it. Your phone calls, emails and other attempts at contact will prove frustratingly futile. You cant escape the feeling that you're on a money-making conveyer belt
It seems that anything they can do to complicate matters they will and it'll result in an indemnity, the cost of which you will be paying
Good luck on day of exchange. Ours was interesting. 1st day, they failed to exchange because in a working day they couldn't contact all the parties. On the 2nd day, they stopped exchange and advised us not to buy!? Why you ask? Because we weren't actually ready to exchange as they had forgotten to do some of the conveyancing work!
Post completion update:
With the purchase complete, all that remained for PPL to do was to electronically upload the change of ownership and to register a right of way with the Land Registry. All the paperwork had already been completed as a condition of exchange, so it was ready to go - just press a button
Several weeks after completion I enquired and was told it was a 'WIP' - the paperwork had been submitted. Eight weeks post-completion, same message. 11 weeks post-completion I spoke to the Land Registry who informed me the paperwork had NEVER been submitted to them by PPL
An enraged call to PPL drew the response that the paperwork was 'complicated' and 'WIP', yet within an hour of complaining, Land Registry informed me that PPL had finally been in touch
Unfortunately, two weeks later, despite repeated assurances that the paperwork had been submitted, Land Registry confirmed it still hadn't
Within an hour of making a formal complaint...the paperwork was finally submitted
A week later, we finally legally owned our new home. You might ask about the right of way, shame PPL didn't. Instead they asked Land Registry to register the existence of some telegraph poles dating back to 1931? When Land Registry queried this, PPL sent them a marriage certificate by way of explanation!?!?
Subsequently, after further chasing, our right of way WAS finally registered. Following a formal complaint we received a letter (sent to our OLD address, I kid you not) and compensation for £100, but with a cheque for just £50 attached
Our request for the original legal paperwork that we bought and paid for had STILL not been actioned 16 weeks after completion. As a result we served a legal 'letter before action' on PPL and the next day received a bundle of papers via recorded delivery
One of the documents was 'a certified copy' of a document, the original of which we had paid for and needed. The 'certified copy' wasn't even dated, so had no legal standing as far as I could see. And we were advised the original was 'in storage' and 'being retrieved'
Beyond farcical.
Having escalated our complaint, we received a letter stating 'for the avoidance of doubt, we have updated our records with your new address'...yes, you guessed it, the letter was mis-addressed AGAIN
The final resolution letter admitted all their mistakes, but accepted no liability for any loss. £100 was paid directly into my bank account, presumably so it couldn't be refused, and they considered the matter closed. The missing original paperwork? Destoyed by the Land Registry or just MIA, they didn't seem to know which
Even as I typed my response, a phonecall came through declaring they had found all the missing paperwork, which was finally delivered next day, ending the saga
Suffice to say that if PPL were the only conveyancers left on planet earth, I'd never move house again. Simple as. If I could award zero stars I would. You have been warned”
“My partner and I are first time buyers currently in the process of purchasing a chain free property. PPL's lack of efficiency and competency has caused us to lose our mortgage offer. Our original offer had an interest rate of 3.54%, a rate which is now impossible to get and the total amount payable would have been £404,468.58. However, we have now had to secure a new offer with an interest rate of 5.54% and the new total amount payable is £457,150.21. Of course we are aware that there will be an opportunity to remortgage but we are guaranteed to have to pay an extra £217.98 per month for the next 3 years which equates to an extra £7,847.28 over the course of that 3 year period. This is because our previous monthly payment would have been £730.44 and the new payment will now be £948.42.In the interests of transparency, the Land Registry is partially to blame as the issue that has caused us to lose our previous mortgage offer is a failure to register the leasehold title for the property we are purchasing. However, PPL have been aware of this issue since before Christmas and I was informed by our solicitor yesterday that they are yet to submit the application for the leasehold title to be registered. Our new offer is only valid until 3rd July and given how long it usually takes for the Land Registry to deal with enquiries, we are concerned that this will not be sorted prior to the expiry of our new mortgage offer. If this does happen, we will unfortunately be left with no choice but to pull out as we cannot afford to get 3rd mortgage offer for this property. Therefore, we are currently in a very worrying position all as a result of PPL.”
“Awful communication, delays and stress!
They are very slow to respond to emails, can't speak to anyone on the phone. They have been nitpicking on unnecessary queries causing a big delay. There is no chain on my new house, the buyers of my current house have been ready to move for 7 weeks and I am still waiting for a completion date, over 4 months in! I am in danger of losing my sale and they know this!”
“Why are these people allowed to continue trading? They should be reported to trading standards. I urge anyone who has has left a one star review to do just that. Our experience was truly awful. We actually put the house back on the market because the sale was not progressing. Sold the house in April and completed end of October after completion delayed 3 times through ppl incompetence. DO NOT USE,,, you have been warned!!!!”
“Currently going through their in-house complaints procedure before taking things further as they are totally incompetant!
Makes buying/selling houses ten times more stressful!!!”
“Absolute joke ! 7 months down the line and four days away from completion they ask for the management pack ( should be asked for at the beginning ) so now I’m stuck in a house surrounded my boxes and my mortgage expires the day after the so completion day ! Save yourself a whole load of money and heartache ! They haven’t got a clue ! AVOID ! Should not be allowed to play Russian roulette with peoples futures ! Disgrace”
“Currently trying to purchase a property for which these cowboys are acting on behalf of the vendors. We had a deadline to exchange three weeks ago.
After 20 weeks they suddenly tell the vendors they have failed identity checks due to a marriage certificate. Once that is sorted they then decide they are not happy with their proof of funds for their purchase (despite having initial proof 16 weeks ago).
Our deal is going to fall through tomorrow even though they promised the estate agent we would be exchanging 3 days ago.
Not returning calls/emails to either the estate agent, their own client or our own solicitor”
“Do not use them! There delays cost us £10,000+. We only 3 people in our chain, all freehold properties and they have still managed to make all involved miss the stamp duty deadline (completion by June 30th). Even though they were instructed at the beginning of April!
They did nothing with the case for month and half after being instructed then their search processes and enquiries were shambolic. Asking for non industry standard fee to speed up the process. They were also obstructive when dealing with the other parties.
After speaking to some accredited property solicitors it seems they have a bad reputation within the industry and no one ever uses them twice. As most get stung the 1st time.
If anyone in your chain uses them it could compromise the whole thing. Beware!”
“**** Update the process gets no better...my house was sold over a week ago and have not received the money for the sale of my property , or been able to get hold of anyone by phone or email.....so I have no house or money. This is appalling ***
Like the majority of larger companies they have an online portal where you complete your forms online and upload your documents, which is easy enough.
But that doesn't then stop you getting emails and phone calls saying you have not completed your forms...and you have x number of outstanding tasks, even though you have completed everything..not a great start.
The second is don't expect to speak to anyone when you try and call them, and don't expect a phone call back either. If you are lucky enough to get through to someone the answer will be, sorry you will need to speak to your representative to answer that question and guess what they never answer!
Premier Property Lawyers have added stress into selling a property, due to poor communications.
Used as part of Purple Bricks, who were great.
Advice for Purple Bricks, get rid of Premier Property Lawyers and for anyone else , I would highly recommend you do not choose Premier Property Lawyers”
“As a first buyer, I had a terrible experience with PPL, as they were delaying the whole process. The sellers were ready to exchange weeks ago, and they keep checking documents and asking the same questions again and again. As a result, the sellers have lost their new house to buy.
They usually take 3 days to check an email, and they never reply, you just see the updates on the online portal. If you are lucky, your conveyancer will answer the phone, if not, any other solicitor will randomly reply to your queries as they are not familiar with the case.
Imran Ali has been extremely rude with my Advisor and myself in several occasions, and we've never received one apology or an ounce of sympathy throughout the process.
Stay away from them if you want to buy your house on time.”
“I cant imagine why this company exist. At first, I have the feeling that this company is not systematic because on the 1st telephone appointment, I waited for 1 hour and just informed us that the assigned conveyancer is no longer connected in the company and someone has to take over. That someone who take over is not doing her job. Seldom replies to email and answered call twice with in 7 months. For 7 months of processing the conveyancer only replied to my call twice. She will reply to email whenever she feels like doing it. 7 months of staying with them and it was just wasted. I came to the point that I have to look for other company that wasting my time . I I went to other company and completion was done in 3 weeks . NEVER NEVER NEVER GET THEIR SERVICE .”
“I would honestly choose a local solicitor firm over this company. I naively saw positive reviews and agreed to go ahead with Premier Property Lawyers (PPL) following my Estate Agent's recommendation. Positive reviews do not provide a full picture, you only have look on Twitter, or Reddit for a fuller picture. If you agree to go ahead with PPL, please note:
- You will hardly ever speak to the conveyancer assigned to you, most likely you will get through to a call centre with people not close to your case.
- There is a five-day turnaround for responses to enquiries to be dealt with (if you chase), this may seem fine at beginning and for more complex enquiries, but not when you are at the final stages and time is precious, quick responses are critical. Forwarding an email, reviewing two line enquiry responses shouldn't take days and weeks. Weeks can go by with no progress.
- The conveyancer provides no real legal advice and support, you will end up doing the leg work in getting the necessary work done to move your case forward. Be prepared to constantly chase.
- At no point, are desired exchange/completion dates discussed with you, you will end up working towards their timescales and when they can fit you in and not yours.
- Absolutely do not use PPL if one chain is already using them, both me (seller) and the buyers are with PPL.
No work goes to try to speed the process up in terms of trying to work together to meet a desired exchange/completion date, like an external conveyancer would do.
My neighbours have sold and used local firms and their processes have been fine, with the same management firm and freeholders of my property.
This is a factory style firm where your case is on a pile of other cases, and the process runs like a conveyor belt. I am six months in with no end in sight. Their business model doesnt work, they take on far more cases then they can handle, if you value your mental health and time, just avoid and go local. The whole process is draining me.”
