FOSKETT MARR GADSBY & HEAD LLP

Avoid at all costs . Totally incompetent and extremely unhelpful , extremely poor communications they take approximately 4-5 days to respond to emails . They still have not managed to complete a basic property purchase in 6 months . Safe to say I will not be using them again in the future.

Tara and her team were amazing during our recent house purchase. Most people complain about their lawyers never getting back to them, Tara was always responsive and this made the whole experience very reassuring. Would highly recommend!

In summary: you will be surprised any conveyancing firm can be this incompetent.
We started the conveyancing process with Foskett Marr as we had found our dream house, and weeks onto the process we found out they were not on our mortgage lenders panel of approved solicitors (which is a requirement to complete a conveyancing transaction). So they had started work and were charging us while being 100% unable to actually complete the transaction. They tried and failed twice to be appointed onto the solicitors panel (raises questions as to why they werent up to standard but we never found out the reason why) and we were left with weeks of delay and a £1000+ bill with absolutely nothing to show for it. We had to proceed (from scratch!) with another conveyancing firm who were fantastic and actually kept us up to date proactively, and luckily got the transaction over the line. The stress this put us under is unimaginable, it also put the transaction under threat. At no appoint whatsoever did they offer any apology (nothing at all), they genuinely couldnt care less and was clear in their responses, they treat their customers with contempt. I asked to be passed over to a complaints person and was ignored, I actually had to look up their practice manager's contact details (Lynn Gooch) myself and send her my complaint. 9 weeks later and I still dont have any response to my complaint (according to their own service standards complaints take 25 working days to receive a response).
I'll be taking my complaint to the legal ombudsman once I hear back from Foskett Marr, whenever that may be.

I would not recommend Foskett Marr Gadsby & Head for first time buyers for conveyancing. My experiences were poor, and echo the points raised by Sicong Chen and Ela about lack of financial transparency.

1. Estimates for searches were significantly lower than what either Tower Hamlets or Greenwich ended up charging (estimate of £180, actual £457 and £484).
2. Not updates on the initial estimate of fees once instructed on a particular property.
3. No updates on current outstanding balance forthcoming even when asked twice in writing.
4. No updates on process or timelines. Very little in the way of outputs were produced.

My husband and I recently completed on a sale and purchase with Tara. Tara was wonderful from beginning to end. Always clear and never pushy. She laid out the estimated fees right at the start which was very helpful, and kept us updated all the way through. She also never bombarded us with too much paperwork at once and her report was educated and clear. She was always fast to respond and professional. Should we move again, we wouldn’t hesitate to instruct Tara again.