Chadwick Lawrence LLP

We used the Horbury branch after our mother's death, in relation to Will and Probate. It was the first time we had to do anything like this, and we didn't know what to expect or to do. Julia Wilding and her colleagues in the office supported us and facilitated the whole process in a very kind, helpful, responsive and efficient way.

It's now approaching 6 months since I engaged with Chadwick Lawrence via SAM Conveyancing and I honestly wish I'd read the reviews beforehand or trusted my gut instincts in the first few weeks of engagement.

I had used Chadwick Lawrence for the purchase of my first home over 4 years ago and the process was smooth and completed within 6 weeks and so I decided to use them again.

Like previous reviews have stated the communications is abysmal and embarrassing, I literally have to talk to my buyer and sellers to get updates as they're able to pick up the phone and speak to their solictors when they need to. I've not spoken on the phone once to my appointed solictor in 6 months, it either goes straight to voicemail or just rings out.

My only form of communication has been email and even then you get an automated response saying we will reply in 5 working days, how is that an acceptable level of service? I've gone weeks without hearing anything and then when I have complained pretty much just had excuses back or we'll keep on top of things only to then fall back into the previous no communications cycle.

I also feel that they've not represented me as a client by giving me the right advice, when explaining that my mortgage offer was expiring and if there was anything they could do about it, they said speak to my mortgage broker (who they knew i'd already spoken to and advised they could only apply for a new mortgage).

Fortunately, I decided to ring the bank directly and they advised my solicitor and my solicitor only, could apply for a mortgage offer extension if they spoke to the bank. My solictor obviously knew this as when I mentioned it to her she then said yes they can apply for a mortgage offer extension a week before expiring, why wasn't this advice given to me initially?

It feels like I'm working for Chadwick Lawrence and not the other way round, I don't feel like i'm a client and my communications with them makes me feel like i'm bothering them. As mentioned it's now 6 months and I've lost faith in the purchase been completed, the amount of stress and anxiety that we've experienced in those months has been intolerable, we were told to trust the process and we're still no closer to moving into our dream home.

I see that a managing partner has been leaving responses on other reviews, I wonder if anyone will actually bother to pick up the phone to talk to me for once in half a year?

Chadwick

From beginning to end this was a painful experience using Chadwick to re-mortgage our home. It’s hard to say whether we just had bad luck with the particular solicitor managing our account (Zoe Hudson) or whether this is just an inadequate company. Judging by the bad reviews of this company across the internet its the latter.

Things got off to a bad start when we were asked to complete the verification process using their poor excuse for a mobile app, which was presumably supposed to make things easier. The app had the general feel of having been developed by a 15 year old in their bedroom as part of GCSE IT project….no not even that good tbh! Ultimately it was clunky to use especially when it came to verifying Id documents and answering some parts of a questionnaire. At some point in the questionnaire we got stuck and couldn’t continue as there was no way to progress. We asked for clarification numerous times and never received a response.

Over the course of the next few months communication continued to be problematic…in fact it was non-existent.

Every time we sent emails asking for clarity they would be ignored. I can only guess that this is due to being somewhere on the spectrum between incompetence and incapable (lack of bandwidth). Either way, not acceptable given the never ending shopping list of charges which are difficult to comprehend unless you’re lawyer or legally trained.

My main gripe with Chadwick is the lack of transparency and unwillingness to communicate with us on any level. A 1 line email response to say “it’s being dealt with” would have at least been better than what we got i.e. radio silence.

I appreciate there was some effort put into chasing our management company for a deed of covenant but again it was impossible to know where the delay was. Had it been managed in a more transparent way with better regular check ins then this would have led to less anxiety and our perception that Chadwick was doing all it could.

The only time chadwick started to communicate with us properly was near the end of the process as we got close to the expiry of our redemption statement and things started to become a massive rush. My suspicion is that Chadwick had just left everything to last minute, squeezing all the timelines.

On the rare occasion that we were able to speak to our solicitor the conversation was generally dealt with, in a catty tone and sense that we shouldn’t really be bothering them.

My advice to other customers: I cannot recommend Chadwick at all tbh. They got the job done in the end but if you want to save yourself a massive headache, pay a bit more and use someone else. You need a company that at least have the decency to respond to your emails and telephone calls throughout the process.

My advice to Chadwick: start showing some empathy for your customers. Buying a house and remortgaging is a stressful experience and such a significant milestone that deserves a bit more handholding, sensitivity with the way you communicate and some clear expectations set at the outset about how often.

This review is for a different branch.

Angela Thorpe was just amazing making the whole process easy and super professional and personal. I would recommend Angela and Chadwick Lawrence to anyone which a both personal and very professional service.

This review is for a different branch.

We made the mistake of looking for a conveyancer on the cheap as our purchase was a straight-forward staircase with full cooperation from the Seller (Housing Association) and a mortgage offer and RICS valuation in place from the start. We went with SAM Conveyancing as they were more affordable than other conveyancing solicitors and initially were very helpful with decent reviews; however, it turns out SAM Conveyancing is a front end business (albeit legit) who farm out cases to conveyancers across the country. Our case was farmed out to Chadwick Lawrence in Bradford, who had less good reviews. When we expressed this concern to our contact at SAM, we were assured SAM would support us along the way, so we went ahead. What a mistake!

Within a week of instruction, we got a bounced back email from our contact at SAM. Attempts to reach her or a manager at the office were met with ‘no one available to speak’ and no response to emails. Our case handler at Chadwick Lawrence turned out to be worse. Although our staircase was initially set up on the firm's online system/app and the process started, there was no further movement. They sat on a letter from the Seller’s solicitor for over a month and then said we needed to pay an associated fee before we could progress (one month wasted). We couldn’t reach our case handler (conveyancer in this case, not a qualified solicitor) by phone at the office; no response to voicemails or emails on valid requests for a quick update. It was particularly stressful when our valuation was expiring and we needed an urgent update. In over 12-weeks, the only time our case handler contacted us was by email on four occasions to ask for additional fees in relation to the purchase - fees, which it turns out were not required (eg, a Deed of Variation from the lender in relation to the leasehold - our lender was happy to go ahead as is).

After over 12 weeks and no progress, we issued a formal complaint. Their response (issued quickly for once) took no responsibility for the lack of communication or progress on our case, and again asked for additional fees before the case could be progressed (the Deed of Variation again - no response when we challenged them on this with a letter from the lender stating they were happy to proceed as is).

We ended up terminating Chadwick Lawrence services, but lost 13-weeks in the process - valuable time in a flat purchase with expiring mortgage offers and valuations. Word to the wise - pay for a decent solicitor for your conveyancing services - one who is available to explain the process to you and provides confidence that the sale is progressing. The stress otherwise is not worth it. What should have been an exciting and fulfilling milestone for us was joyless and unduly stressful thanks to Chadwick Lawrence. Avoid.

This review is for a different branch.

Was blindly recommended these guys by our mortgage broker - in retrospect I didn't look them up or read a single review, just trusted the mortgage broker (he obviously gets a kick back, v naive of me)

Seemed to start ok and pretty smooth, the app is fairly easy to use and you have a fairly long tick list of forms and letters to sign and fill out. All fine with that to be fair.

We had a chain sale/purchase with a few moving parts, we signed on with CL in May 2024 and over that time I think had 4 or 5 case handlers. At one stage I needed an urgent update on something and had to email our handler 4 times and leave 2 voicemails. The response I got was actually from a new person to say that our handler was now off the case. They simply do not return phone calls and answer complex emails with short one liners.

I received zero actual advice on what was happening or should happen at any stage of the sale/purchase. Towards the end of the sale they noticed that we'd signed a form incorrectly, i think i'd posted it a month before this, so caused stress and delays. On the day of completion we were called at 11.30 as they had miss-priced our property and we had to pay an additional £2,000 before we could collect our keys. After 4 months of stress and uncertainty this was the last thing we needed.

To be fair to them Neil Doherty - the final case handler - did pick up the phone and responded to emails promptly at times towards the end. He certainly knows what he's talking about but he was the ONLY one out of a full team of people.

Maybe it's just the way solicitors are, but they will not respond to anything if there isn't an update. I think they could do well to send even holding emails to say they've not heard anything yet but will do x, y and z rather than waiting for clients to email and call multiple times.

Did they get my house sale and purchase done, yes. Was it mind bendingly frustrating and stressful, yes. Would I use them again? no - I'd rather study law myself.

This review is for a different branch.

Started off fine, downloaded an app and filled out everything the solicitor would need myself, then a massive lack of comms until I mentioned using the Ombudsman, then comms dropped massively and they were slow in sending my money across to my account which took multiple phone calls, emails and messages left in voice mail and with reception until last minute on a Friday leaving me very anxious that something that had gone wrong. Go elsewhere

This review is for a different branch.

I was referred to Chadwick Lawrence, via Joe's Conveyancing, to handle the sale of one house and purchase of another. I had such a bad experience and wouldn't use them again even ic their services were free of that paid me.
Issues include:
1. at least 4 different case handlers - 1 handler went off sick (yes this can happen) but no one was able to access her files so all paperwork completed to date was effectively lost and had to be redone
2. they never returned phone calls
3. basic errors were made ie. my title, the names of the buyers - this took an age to rectify despite me telling them numerous times
4. they did not listen to instructions and carried out checks that I did not require
5. I sent numerous emails asking questions - I even put the questions in bullet points and they may answer one point but ignore the rest
6. they were meant to reply to emails either 24 hours but rarely did

What should have been a relatively straightforward forward process turned into a stressful nightmare fraught with complications.

The final kicks in the teeth that they failed to exchange when I instructed them to and they didn't even have the courtesy to let me know that I had completed.

Avoid this firm at all costs - they are not capable on any level.