Muve Conveyancing

Worst conveyancing company ever! Only reason we chose them was their cheap prices, but whatever was saved will barely cover the therapy costs that are needed after having to deal with them. Took them over 6 months to close on our simple chain free sale, and had to wait another 10 months to get the final paperwork. Every step of the way I’ve had to chase them to do their job and ask them to sort out x, y & z. To the point that I had to reach out to the land registry myself to ask what is taking so long when still after 9 months of waiting the registration hadn’t been finalized. Even though friends of ours got their final paperwork 3 months after completion when buying around the same time as us… Muve kept telling us they’ve done everything they can but Land Registry ofc confirmed they have been waiting on a reply from Muve for months without reply. Around completion Muve also wanted to charge us an expedition fee for needed to expedite the completion due to their own mistakes and lack of communication. Appalling behavior…

I would strongly advise anyone considering Muve for conveyancing to run the other way! My experience with Muve has been nothing short of a nightmare, filled with broken promises, delayed timelines, and blatant disregard for their contractual obligations. Despite the numerous glowing reviews on Trustpilot, my experience has been so consistently poor that I have to question the authenticity of these positive reviews. Here’s an honest breakdown of what you’re truly getting with Muve:

1. False Promises of “Dedicated” Account Management:

Muve’s MuveFast service promises a dedicated account manager to proactively manage your case and ensure smooth communication. This is nothing more than a sales tactic to lure you in. My “dedicated” account manager was unavailable for large portions of the process, with no replacement or continuity in service. I spent days chasing responses and essential information. Muve’s team showed little interest in proactive communication, leaving me with critical delays and unanswered questions for weeks at a time.

2. Lack of Transparency and Accountability:

Throughout the process, I encountered additional charges on my completion statement that I had not been informed of or authorised. This lack of transparency, coupled with Muve’s unwillingness to provide clear explanations, left me questioning their honesty and professionalism. For a service handling such significant transactions, this lack of upfront clarity is deeply troubling.

2. Majority of the Work Handled by Offshore, Unlicensed Conveyancers:

One of the most troubling aspects of Muve’s service is that the majority of my case was handled by an offshore conveyancer who was not licensed in the UK. While Muve claimed that a UK-licensed conveyancer provided oversight, no transparency was ever given on what that oversight entailed, how much of my transaction was actually reviewed, or what percentage of the work was conducted by qualified professionals. This arrangement left me feeling that I was largely on my own, as I constantly had to chase for updates and handle issues that I expected a properly licensed team to manage. If you’re expecting a UK-based, fully licensed team to look after your transaction with transparency, Muve will disappoint you.

4. Failure to Meet Deadlines:

Muve boasts about their expedited service and commitment to completion timelines. In reality, they missed my completion deadline by over two weeks, and under their contractual terms, they were responsible for certain adjustments due to the delay. Muve’s team, however, has shown zero accountability for these breaches. This disregard for their contractual obligations is unacceptable and has added unnecessary stress and costs to an already challenging process.

5. Misleading Marketing - Do Not Trust the Positive Reviews:

Muve’s marketing promises an efficient, high-quality service, yet I received exactly the opposite: poor communication, hidden fees, unmet contractual obligations, and indifferent customer service. My reasonable request for a fee reduction due to these failures was either ignored or deflected, showing a complete lack of responsibility.

Given the extent of the issues I’ve experienced, it’s hard to believe the authenticity of Muve’s glowing Trustpilot reviews. My experience was so far removed from what’s advertised that I question how genuine these positive reviews genuinely are. If Muve could fail in almost every aspect of their service, as they have in my case, it’s not possible that they consistently deliver five-star experiences to others.

Don’t make the same mistake. Go with a UK-based conveyancer who is fully licensed, not just overseen by someone licensed.

I would strongly advise anyone considering Muve for conveyancing to run the other way! My experience with Muve has been nothing short of a nightmare, filled with broken promises, delayed timelines, and blatant disregard for their contractual obligations. Despite the numerous glowing reviews on Trustpilot, my experience has been so consistently poor that I have to question the authenticity of these positive reviews. Here’s an honest breakdown of what you’re truly getting with Muve:

1. False Promises of “Dedicated” Account Management:

Muve’s MuveFast service promises a dedicated account manager to proactively manage your case and ensure smooth communication. This is nothing more than a sales tactic to lure you in. My “dedicated” account manager was unavailable for large portions of the process, with no replacement or continuity in service. I spent days chasing responses and essential information. Muve’s team showed little interest in proactive communication, leaving me with critical delays and unanswered questions for weeks at a time.

2. Lack of Transparency and Accountability:

Throughout the process, I encountered additional charges on my completion statement that I had not been informed of or authorised. This lack of transparency, coupled with Muve’s unwillingness to provide clear explanations, left me questioning their honesty and professionalism. For a service handling such significant transactions, this lack of upfront clarity is deeply troubling.

2. Majority of the Work Handled by Offshore, Unlicensed Conveyancers:

One of the most troubling aspects of Muve’s service is that the majority of my case was handled by an offshore conveyancer who was not licensed in the UK. While Muve claimed that a UK-licensed conveyancer provided oversight, no transparency was ever given on what that oversight entailed, how much of my transaction was actually reviewed, or what percentage of the work was conducted by qualified professionals. This arrangement left me feeling that I was largely on my own, as I constantly had to chase for updates and handle issues that I expected a properly licensed team to manage. If you’re expecting a UK-based, fully licensed team to look after your transaction with transparency, Muve will disappoint you.

4. Failure to Meet Deadlines:

Muve boasts about their expedited service and commitment to completion timelines. In reality, they missed my completion deadline by over two weeks, and under their contractual terms, they were responsible for certain adjustments due to the delay. Muve’s team, however, has shown zero accountability for these breaches. This disregard for their contractual obligations is unacceptable and has added unnecessary stress and costs to an already challenging process.

5. Misleading Marketing - Do Not Trust the Positive Reviews:

Muve’s marketing promises an efficient, high-quality service, yet I received exactly the opposite: poor communication, hidden fees, unmet contractual obligations, and indifferent customer service. My reasonable request for a fee reduction due to these failures was either ignored or deflected, showing a complete lack of responsibility.

Given the extent of the issues I’ve experienced, it’s hard to believe the authenticity of Muve’s glowing Trustpilot reviews. My experience was so far removed from what’s advertised that I question how genuine these positive reviews genuinely are. If Muve could fail in almost every aspect of their service, as they have in my case, it’s not possible that they consistently deliver five-star experiences to others.

Don’t make the same mistake. Go with a UK-based conveyancer who is fully licensed, not just overseen by someone licensed.

I've never felt like there was a professional on the other side advising me.
They simply follow a checklist, which could be fine for those purchases that are very trivial.
You ask 5 questions they reply to 1.
They keep repeating the same standard messages they copy&paste from canned responses.
A bot or AI could probably be very easily trained to do this.

They seem to use 2 web portal, one called Hoowla, one called HLPConveyancing.
They are both utterly bad and they show sometimes conflicting information.

At some point during the process the answers to the enquiries disappeared from the portal.
From that moment it seems like we wasted 2 months where I had no clue what was going on.
There was virtually no way for me to verify the progress of the case as I had no log of when something happened.
Add to lack of communication the lack of transparency and you get in a situation where it's hard to trust someone advising you on such an important process like buying a house.

If there was a professional on the other side I could have saved a lot of time and stress.
On top of all of this they outsource all the work in Sri Lanka so factor in also the timezone difference and the fact that it's practically impossible to call and have someone pick up the phone during our time.

Lesson learned for the future I will not go with a cheap option when it comes to buy a house.
I highly recommend you do the same. Best money can do is give you peace of mind and knowing that you are advised by professionals on such important matter.

I don't give 1 star because at least they were nice and kind during the process, I'll give them that.

We never imagined that the sale of our house could be blocked a second time by the same disorganised firm of conveyancing solicitors. Back in July 2024, we chose to dispense with the services of Muve for the sale of our house for the reasons I detailed in my original review on Trustpilot - (reproduced at the base of this second review for reference).

We never dreamed that the orderly sale of our house could be blocked a second time by the same firm. We now have a new buyer of our house, but they are unable to exchange contracts as their funding is dependent on the successful sale of one of their property assets to a tenant. The terms of sale for their property, a flat in Streatham, have been agreed with the tenant but sadly, the tenant has chosen Muve to handle the transaction. Months of delay have ensued and much as we would like to hold faith with our new buyers who love our property, other offers are now likely to 'pip them to the post'.

The fundamental issue with Muve is that each of their qualified solicitors is expected to manage as many as 30 case handlers who are based in offshore call centres. The poor Muve client must therefore expect to deal with multiple call-handlers, none of whom appear to have received sufficient training in, or experience of, conveyancing. Equally, the case load that each Muve solicitor is expected to handle leaves them with insufficient time for any training or supervision of their case handlers, let alone any direct intervention in individual case files to help resolve simple issues.

We are based in the same Richmond area where Muve has its offices - an area where there is no shortage of good estate agents. What has shocked me more than anything else is that Muve seems to have established an appalling reputation with these local property professionals. The situation has apparently become so critical that more than one agent has commented to me that they are now considering recommending to their property-owning clients that they should reject any offer from buyers who declare an intention to instruct Muve as their conveyancing solicitors.

Surely it is time for this firm of solicitors to be referred to the SRA - The Solicitors Regulation Authority?

My original 1-star review of Muve posted on Trustpilot 17 July 2024 was as detailed below:

Misrepresentation? When Muve takes a £220 'file opening'…
When Muve takes a £220 'file opening' payment, what they don't tell you is that the registration of your house sale is good for just 12 months. If it takes you longer than that Muve says that you have to be "re-onboarded" (don't you dislike that US jargon!")
Their 12-week target is just for exchange, not completion of the sale. That's a very unambitious target to hit. You have to upgrade and pay more if you want their rapid service.
We are dispensing with their services today. We will ask for the return of our £220 registration/file opening/onboarding fee as they misrepresented the nature of this fee. Had we known that the fee was non-refundable and that its validity would expire after 12 months, we would not have instructed this call-centre-led, conveyancing-by numbers legal firm. As of today, they are fired from our account. AVOID

Muve's updated response to this review promises that we will be contacted by one of their team to seek resolution of our complaint. That was already promised by Muve during a telephone call on Friday 12th July. At that time they promised emphatically that someone would call before close of play on Friday. No one called, so this latest promise is not credible. We have simply lost all confidence in this firm.

Muve subsequently refunded our £200. They then asked if I would consider removing my unfavourable review from Trustpilot. In the light of this second unfortunate experience, where Muve has all but thwarted a very simple sale as a consequence of their lack of diligence and experience, I feel that I cannot do so. I would be letting down other prospective users of this firm's conveyancing services if I were to conceal details of our own experience.

An absolutely horrific company to deal with. I wish I had gone to a local conveyancer who would have been able to give me the correct information in time for me to exchange on my house purchase.
I was acting as PoA whilst selling my father’s property in a sale with 5 families up and down the chain. Not only did the process take 5 months (which I can understand as things sometimes take a while to come together) but my conveyancer waited until the day of exchange to tell me that they wouldn’t be able to proceed with the transaction because one of the partners had deemed that they needed more information as I was acting as a power of attorney!!! Why this couldn’t have been asked for 5 months prior I will never know. Muve conveyancing seemed totally unbothered with the anguish they were causing the 5 families in the chain and just couldn’t care less about the fact that we were about to lose the house we had been waiting for for the past 5 months.
The refund I was promised never came to fruition either. If you are looking for a conveyancer without the stress that you will DEFINITELY receive from these guys… do yourself a favour and pay a little extra and go to someone local.