WARDS SOLICITORS LLP

Wards handled both the purchase of our new home and the part exchange sale of our old property. We received a great and fast service from start to finish at a very competitive price on quite a tight deadline.

We didn’t personally use Wards, Clevedon for our house sale or purchase, but both we and the rest of our chain were repeatedly affected by their actions. Here’s what we experienced:

- Unnecessary delays: Wards stopped answering enquiries for around three months while the bottom of the chain re-sold their property. This wasn’t needed, as everyone else in the chain had already confirmed we’d continue once the chain was complete again.
- Slow communication: We were told Wards sent their enquiries to the other solicitor in “drips and drabs” over several months. This made it really hard for everyone to know where things stood or to plan any completion dates.
- Last to complete enquiries: Even after being part of the chain for seven months, Wards were still the last to finish their enquiries.
- Delays over a deed of variation: They held back a deed of variation until almost everything else was done, which caused a delay of more than two weeks while waiting for management company signatures. We later found out this could’ve been sorted months earlier.
- Poor communication on exchange day: On the day we were supposed to exchange, no one—our solicitor, the estate agents, or others in the chain—could get hold of Wards. At 4 p.m. they suddenly said there was an outstanding indemnity insurance payment, even though it had been resolved the previous Friday. Because of this, we couldn’t exchange that day.
- Hard to reach: Our estate agent, solicitor, and others in the chain all commented on how difficult Wards were to contact by phone or email, with some suggesting they might have been ignoring communications.

Overall, the chain was complicated and had fallen through twice early on (which wasn’t Wards’ fault), but the issues above made the final few months far more stressful and delayed than they needed to be. Out of the six solicitors involved, Wards stood out as the least responsive and the most difficult to work with.

I was using Amy Jones in a divorce matter primarily because of her stated specialised experience. In actual fact I was really let down in this matter and my new solicitor stated there was actual negligence. Although appearing very friendly at first - at times she seemed quite hostile snapping at me for asking questions. She seemed to want to make it easier for my husband by preventing certain questions. Also when first joining I made sure she was based in office and so was accessible - I later found out she worked from home on certain days and was not told this. I also found her secretary to be quite rude. She came out to speak to me in the reception area and stood over me for lengthy conversation, I asked if she would mind sitting down next to me - her first reaction right in front of me was to give the girls on reception a very negative look suggesting I was a nuisance. I do not recommend.

The service received from Wards solicitors in Clevedon over the past 18 months, dealing with my mothers estate has been diabolical.

So many mistakes have been made that I cannot name them all, but the main ones are as follow:-

I had been asked for information given twice before, to sign documents in another persons name, sign a receipt for undetermined funds yet to be sent, received undated, unsigned and incomplete letters.

Documents had not been attached to emails, refusal to acknowledge receipt of certified documents, despite many requests. On this occasion it turned out illness was the reason and no one was monitoring the system.

Another occasion, reason of holiday was given, so no one monitoring again, However, on a recent occasion I did get the obligatory auto message ‘Out of Office for two weeks’ but miraculously had a reply a couple of days later…

I asked for a partner or manager to investigate what all the problems were but this was ignored; but it did get some swift action

Thankfully my dealings with Wards solicitors are now concluded so should have no further communications

Highly recommend Wards Solicitors in Clevedon.
We had the pleasure of Lucy throughout our house purchase. First class service throughout. We had peace of mind that Lucy would get our inquiries communicated correctly with no misinformation to the sellers solicitors & therefore things would get answered to help us decide on how to progress with our move.
At key points we had rapid communication from Lucy who had gone to the sellers solicitors to get things sorted versus incredibly slow & unsure estate agent.