Premier Property Lawyers - Anyone used them recently?

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Just had an offer accepted on a house and are going with PPL, as recommended by our mortgage broker. We like the way everything is online and hope that the purchase is going to be straightforward. I have now read a lot of mixed reviews on the internet which have made me rethink our decision.
So my question is has anyone used them recently?
Pls give me your experiences, positive and negative!
Cheers!

Bumping for you

I have no personal experience but you are usually better to use a high street firm than a call centre type operation where you rarely get to speak with a qualified lawyer and deal instead with a series of call centre operators with limited qualifications - you get what you pay for when it comes to professional services!

My experience is that using an "online" conveyancer is easier, cheaper and far less hassle than a high street firm. You always get to speak to someone who knows about your case, rather than having to phone again and again until the person dealing with your case is available. Everything happens over the phone, via email or post so you don't have to find time to go to their offices. Don't kid yourself that a high street firm will use highly qualified solicitors, or if they do they'll be any better than a conveyancer that does house sales and purchases all day, every day.

I would recommend Simpson Millar. You get your own case handler so you always talk to the same person and They have an online tracker so you can check progress. They beat the pants of any high street firm I've used, in price and level of service.

We have just completed our house purchase with them and they were great. Our conveyancer was amandeep and would definitely recommend her although i
wasn't as impressed with some of the other conveyancers I spoke to when she was away for a few days.

Was with PPL but after I challenged them on the content of the first correspondence I decided to go to the High Street solicitor I used 11 years ago (not so cheap).

The had a lot of hidden fees, the people who answer the phone after 5pm know nothing and just had to keep saying someone could call me back, even though one of the selling points is that they are open in the evening.

The letter of fees was inconsistent, and badly constructed for even a layman, let alone a legal company.

Then today it got worse, the purchaser of my property, is using them, and went for their survey, and then today I hear the rubbish their surveyor said: No vents in loft - never went in loft. Boiler has no service - never asked if it did. Lack of mains sockets in room - never asked and majority are hidden behind furniture. Said things would need replacing immediately - no evidence to support this.

My advice, go and ask in solicitors in town for prices, remember to ask your estate agent to confirm in writing how much they get paid for referring you, then at least ask for reduction on fees if you do use, them. The line that it is quicker as your purchaser or the seller use them is flawed, as I found out, it would take 48 hours to check something with a colleague, yet my new solicitor for the answer while I waited.

I have used them despite going to law school in the past and training to be a Barrister. I have to say that I am not a Barrister yet because my little boy died of meningitis and I could not take the stress of training and criminal law at the time. I thought about using them because I have a mortgage this time and the bank is happier if I let someone else do the conveyancing other than myself.

I have experience of conveyancing so I know what the exercise involves. These guys and girls are absolutely rubbish and I feel ripped off and I have now given them the push and I have asked the bank for a chargeback on my fees paid up front. I live in a village in Hawkinge in Kent basically 300 feet above sea level yet they reckon that I live on a flood plain and started demanding money for an insurance policy off of the lady whose house that I was buying. They also very nearly cost me my buyer on the house that I am selling.

Believe me if you know how to fill out a form anyone can do conveyancing it is not difficult. Basically it is a form filling exercise. But these guys managed to mess even that up and their knowledge of the law leaves a lot to be desired. DO NOT GO NEAR THEM!!!!!

This company is an absolute disgrace! DO NOT USE! The staff are incompetent, obnoxious and rude. It took them 4 months to sort out the paperwork for a flat with no chain and I lost it in the end as the seller got fed up waiting. It should not have taken this long to complete the paperwork! It's even more difficult to get my deposit money back as they are asking for all sorts of paperwork and a sign letter from me confirming that I want my money back!

This tread is rather worrying as we are getting our mortgage via London and Country and they have some sort of agreement with Premier Property Services. We may switch to a local solicitor now as the google reviews of Premier are quite alarming!

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!! I instructed them on the 19th March and they did nothing except take my money until I formally complained at the end of April, only then did they commence the ID checks and local searches.

I should have moved by now but Im still waiting for my local searches to be returned (29th May). I have just rung my estate agents who recommended them, who have told me that they have received lots of complaints from vendors and are now planning not to use them.

We used them last year and they were great. I really liked the way everything was managed online, if I had to send them anything they called me to confirm receipt, they returned my calls promptly, and they got the sale completed in the timeframe I had requested. I was surprisingly pleased as I was nervous about using an unknown firm but honestly they were fine and I and have no complaints.

I started the initial thread in 2012. We did our house purchase through ppl in the end and were happy with them. All went through fairly smoothly. Even when our conveyancer went on holiday the case got handled by a colleague. Even now I am still able to log into my online account and download documents from our house purchase (very helpful when I had to submit a solicitor letter for proof of address when applying for primary school for DS). Not sure what changed with them in the meantime judging from other peoples posts..

We used them earlier this year and were happy, everything went pretty smoothly

We used them and I am afraid it was a poor choice. They got mixed up with which property we were selling and more annoyingly when we did sell I had to chase them for the money 4 days after completion. There were also fees added to invoice which were in very small print so beware. I would not recommend.

On balance looking at this thread, I would avoid them. If you look at other online reviews they do not come out favourably. When you 're making such a big decision like selling a home you do not want the odds to be 50/50 for your own solicitor - there are many more things which will challenge you along the way.

They were so rubbish. needed chasing 20 times to action anything. I would never use again.

We used Gordon's as we went with L and C as our broker. They were fine - cheap and cheerful, I nagged a bit but a lot less than I did with our last conveyancer.

Average property, no major complications, short or no chain, not in any rush - maybe OK if you want to save a bit of money. If more valuable property, some complications expected, in a hurry then definitely don't use Premier. You will end up tearing your hair out.

Ours is a straightforward buy/sell and they have been excellent, much faster than our buyers solicitors :)

We are using PPL now. The first conveyancer was rubbish, but got another one mid way & she's been good. The online system is very useful!

We've run into a huge problem now. The lender is refusing their searches and saying they are not a 'solicitor' and hence not on their approved list. We now have to use another solicitor who will represent the lender. So we have 2 solicitors, the lender & the seller & the agent L&C. Utter chaos! Just holding it together as we are inches away from exchange & there is no chain.

Please make sure all parties are compatible & the person you deal with at PPL is good. Else look for alternatives.

PPL are bloody awful, we had to chase them from day one, ended up doing most of the work for them. They couldn't even get simple things right they messed up so many times. STAY CLEAR OF THEM!!!

I used them about a year ago. They were great. I bought as a FTB and I purchased a property which wasn't in a chain. We completed within a month. Both myself and the vendor were with PPL and they were recommended by the estate agent. I didn't have the time or energy to shop about

I posted a similar query a few months ago, and based on feedback on MN decided to give them a miss and go with a local firm to us.

We had had an initial conversation with PPL at the start (before I asked around on MN) and said we were likely to go with them, then got a different solicitor instead. Can't remember if we formally told them we'd changed our mind which I feel bad about, BUT....

PPL emailed my husband last week to say that we needed to return the paperwork they'd sent to them so they could progress our sale/ purchase.... Made me feel glad we hadn't gone with them as if - as it appeared - they thought they were still going to be acting for us, the fact they hadn't been in touch to chase us for paperwork in nine weeks, makes me think they wouldn't be pushing our case very quickly....!

Rogerthatmummy - you should have formally told PPL though otherwise solicitors sit and wait for a couple of weeks for you to contact them with signed paperwork and some people do take ages to return forms, though 9 weeks is perhaps a little long!