Bishopsgate Law Ltd

This review is for a different branch.

I'm giving one star only because I assume they will eventually complete the legal work, though even this is uncertain given my experience.
Initially attracted by their competitive pricing, this proved incorrect when they charged an additional £650 for a lease review - work that other conveyancers typically include in their standard fee. This actually makes them more expensive than many competitors.
The communication has been abysmal. Every single issue requires multiple chase emails, and phone calls are essentially impossible - they're never available and despite repeated promises of callbacks, these never materialise, even for urgent matters. When they do respond, it's often inadequate or raises more questions than it answers.
Their handling of timelines and deadlines has been particularly poor. They sat on urgent work for months, only to suddenly inform me it would take several weeks to complete. They have repeatedly put my entire purchase at risk through their delays and lack of action, and seem to have no real interest in ensuring a successful transaction. I've had to constantly chase them just to avoid my mortgage offer expiring.
I would strongly advise looking elsewhere for conveyancing services unless you enjoy chasing solicitors and having your emails ignored

This review is for a different branch.

Eleanora and Anup did an amazing job with our recent house purchase. They gave clear, professional advice and were fast and responsive when the chain finally neared exchange and completion. After weeks of little communication further up the chain, the last week was frantic and they handled it brilliantly. Many thanks, both!

This review is for a different branch.

Sylvia and Runa took care of the sale of my flat and I was very impressed with their work. The sale went through quickly and seamlessly and I would have no reservations in recommending them. In fact, I’ll be using them again on my next sale.

This review is for a different branch.

Olubunmi (Sisi) Omoyele from Bishopsgate Law guided me, through my first house purchase and made it super easy for me.
Note that originally went for different lawyers and they told me that purchase can NOT go through!

She is simply amazing and i do recomend her.

This review is for a different branch.

I'll start off by saying we managed to exhange and complete on our sale and purchase, but the chain was very close to collapsing.

Our "team" Vanisha and Jodie, started off with solid communication. But over the course of the 6 month process, communication became more and more difficult. We would rarely get email replies to seemingly simple queries ("is there anything we can help with? Have there been any updates?"). We would receive replies with spelling mistakes, contracts with my partner's name spelled incorrectly, and more. Trying to reach either of them by phone was difficult and we resorted to passing on messages. Overall, communication was poor.

From our point of view, it wasn't clear how our case was handled. Queries would be left hanging for weeks and we would have to chase our solicitors - and other solicitors in the chain! Sure, this might not be unheard of, but considering the amount you pay for their services, you end up doing some of their work for them. On that note, I resorted to contacting other parties in the chain directly to speed things up (e.g. requesting documents, management packs) or contacting the council directly to resolve queries (e.g. section 106 documents). We would also receive communications at the end of the week, last thing on a Friday, when we can't do much to action queries - essentially wasting time as little can be done over the weekend.

The result of this was a very, VERY stressful legal experience during an already stressful, life changing time in our lives. Buying/selling a house is already difficult as it is and I find it difficult to recommend Bishopsgate for the legal part of this process.

This review is for a different branch.

Use their services if you want a non-hassle free experience!

I used Bishopsgate Law because of the good reviews in Trustpilot; however, dealing with them is a complete nightmare. The lack of care for their clients, the insufficiency of communication between their own internal departments and their disorganisation is just appalling. I am trying to buy a property and they have delayed the day for exchanging of contracts three times until now, and the completion day (which should have happened on the 28th, did not happen, then on the 5th, but it did not happen either). My mortgage offer ends on the 20th and I still don’t know when we will be exchanging. I should be on holidays abroad with my family right now but because I know they are a complete mess and a team I cannot trust, I cancelled them, so I could be more accessible and reply to their emails quickly, without causing any further delay. For the same reason, I also asked to be off work on the day we should first exchange contracts.
As with most flats in the UK, there is an issue with the ground rent. The seller had to start a lease extension and pass it to me. Emma Allchurch informed me that the seller would have to negotiate the premium, that there would be additional legal fees and that I will get a quote (29th of November), almost two months later, on the 17th of January, I got a quote which turned out to be over £3,000!! Also, it seems these solicitors never confirmed with the lender whether they would accept a 5 years revision of the ground rent. I found out just a few days ago.
I got a legal advisor for the lease extension, Petra Jestribkova, who informed me that it is not the seller’s responsibility to negotiate the premium but the buyer, and that I am also responsible for the landlord’s legal fees. So, why did these solicitors keep me waiting for three months, thinking that the seller and landlord were negotiating the premium? At this point I contacted other solicitors, but then I got a bit concerned thinking that I could go from bad to worse, so I decided to proceed with Bishopsgate Law. A big mistake.
However, I got some information in regards to the landlord’s legal fees, and it seems the seller should be liable for these costs. I asked Petra, but she replied I am liable for these fees and the valuation costs. She also mentioned that we can explore an informal extension, and I agreed, but she never did. These additional costs were never mentioned by Emma A. either, so it is obvious she never checked with the lease extension team. I don’t know what happened but then I was appointed a new solicitor, Amanda Turco.

I asked questions about the service charge which I never got an answer for, I neither got any reply for some questions in regards to the correspondence with the lender, nor for questions regarding the retention from the seller (in case the lease extension takes longer than expected)

On the 27th of March, the day before we should be completing (which did not happen, but we were trying to, at least, exchange), I received an email from Petra informing solicitors insisted in completing on the 28th - but they had agreed something different with Amanda-, and I was also informed the “Deed of assignment” was missing. Really? Do they realise the day before exchanging? I had to rush to a post office to print it out, find a witness to sign and post the document, so they could get it the following day.
The same day (28th) we should be exchanging, I got an email from Petra asking me for instructions sent the day before, which I had already replied 20 minutes after getting her email, with some questions which were never answered.

Beside all these issues, they overcharged me (not much, I must say), but I am still waiting to get this difference back; however, the firm expects you to pay upfront for the lease extension legal fees, even when hardly any disbursement has been made, and we are just at the very first stages of this process, and they don't care if you are left with less than £200 for the rest of the month.

So after a few cancellations to exchange of contracts and a couple to complete, I am still waiting… And, of course, they won’t admit any error on their side and won’t apologise at all for all these inconveniences.

Unfortunately, I still have to deal with them in regards to the lease extension, but I do hope this can be done as soon as possible because the level of uncertainty, stress and anxiety that I got from these solicitors is unbearable.