BUDE NATHAN IWANIER LLP

As with so many others, it seems, mortgage funds were not in place for a purchase, and completion did not take place, despite contracts having been exchanged some weeks previously. Numerous attempts to contact the solicitor, partners and assistants went unanswered. No explaination was given and the completion was delayed by weeks, at great expense to all involved. Suggest avoiding and using a different law firm.

This firm is in my chain. They took 4 months to raise enquiries, the solicitor acting refused to update the agent, never answered calls or emails, agreed to exchange after 6 months, then no one could get hold of him for 3 days, exchanged, and today is completion and guess what... nonone could get hold of him he gave no updates refused to take calls, lied at 2.30pm when we threatened to serve notice, and said funds have been sent. At 3 30pm we found out he lied and said he has an outstanding enquiry. We are now approaching 4pm and still no one knows what is happening. Absolutely disgusting!

I first should clarify that I have not directly been a customer of this firm. As I understand it they represented the buyer of my old house. I do wish to say however that my solicitors, and estate agent informed me on numerous occasions that they struggled to get hold of this firm, which in my view caused delays in the process. The worst issue however was that on completion day (which had an onward chain as I had purchased a new house to move into), I was informed by my solicitor that this firm had not organised the mortgage funds for their client (buyer of my house) to arrive until the day of completion. The exchange contracts I was informed had agreed that funds would be with my solicitor by 2pm. An email was sent to my solicitor (after numerous attempts) by this firm at 1.37pm informing them that they expected funds to arrive from the lender within 1-2 hours and they were looking to complete later the same day (contracts had already been exchanged). As I understand it this meant they effectively breached what was agreed, and it was only because the other firms in the chain chased and remained 'on it', that I was able to get the keys to my new home (because it then had to go through my solicitors on my sale, my solicitors on my purchase, and the solicitors of the seller my new house) at 4.43pm (right before closing). I had movers waiting all day in a van, and was preparing to put items into storage at extra cost, and find a hotel to sleep in. I feel this is unacceptable, my solicitor organised my mortgage funds in advance of completion day, and that's what should have happened. It created a lot of unnecessary stress and therefore I feel this firm should be avoided. I however must stress this is based on what I was informed, and I have not used the firm directly.

I would like to say a huge thankyou to Andreata who helped me get my house in my name after my unpleasant divorce. She was very responsible, calm and kind and she stuck to the budget and went an extra mile for me; which was really appreciated. Thankyou so much for all your help and professionalism.

My experience with this firm during the sale of my property was extremely stressful. They represented my buyer, and there were repeated delays caused by a lack of communication. My solicitor often received no response to emails or calls for long periods, which slowed the process significantly.
On completion day, the solicitor handling the file was unreachable for the entire morning, and no one else in the firm was able to step in or provide updates. As a result, the completion funds were not sent until after 3pm, which was well beyond the expected 1pm timeframe. This caused me considerable distress and resulted in additional removal costs due to the delay in receiving the keys.
Based on my experience, I would advise others to proceed with caution to say the least.