Complaints Handling Policy

Our Complaints policy

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards.

 Our Complaints Procedure

If you have a complaint, please contact us with the details.

What will happen next?

• We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within 7 days of receiving it, enclosing a copy of this procedure.

• We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to our designated complaints person, Heather Bolton, who is a Solicitor and Director with the firm. She will review your matter file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you. [In the event that the complaint relates to a matter involving Heather Bolton, the complaint will be investigated by another Solicitor at the firm who will write to you accordingly].

• Heather Bolton will then invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. She will do this within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.

• Within five days of the meeting, she will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions he has agreed with you.

• If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, Heather Bolton will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including her suggestions for resolving the matter, within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter. 

• At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will, if possible, arrange for someone unconnected with the matter at the firm or, if we both agree, another local solicitor or someone trained in mediation to review the decision.

• We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.

·        If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.

·        We have eight weeks to consider your complaint. If we have not resolved it within this time you may complain to the Legal Ombudsman.

[NB. The term days refers to working days].

 Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman (LeO)

Who can make a complaint to LeO?

Members of the public who have a problem with their legal service provider can complain to LeO. The Legal Ombudsman prefers that you approach them directly, but you can ask a friend, relative or anyone else to get in touch for you. If you use another service provider to complain to LeO, the service provider may charge you a fee. If you want another person to act on your behalf you will need to advise LeO that the person has your permission to speak to the Legal Ombudsman directly.

You can also complain if you are, or represent, any of the following:

        (a)       A business or enterprise that was a micro-enterprise when you made a complaint to the service provider;
        (b)       a charity with an annual income net of tax of less than £1 million when you made a complaint to the service provider;
        (c)       a club, association or organisation, the affairs of which are managed by its members or a committee or committees of its members, that had an annual income net of tax of less than £1 million when you made a complaint to the service provider;
        (d)       a trustee of a trust that had an asset value of less than £1 million when you made a complaint to the service provider;
        (e)       a personal representative or a beneficiary of an estate of a person who, before he/she died, had not made the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.

For (e) above the condition is that the services to which the complaint relates were provided by the service provider to a person who has subsequently died; AND had not, by his or her death, already referred the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.

The Legal Ombudsman cannot help if you have a disagreement with another beneficiary or executor.

Timescale for complaining to LeO:

The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within one year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within one year of you realising there was a concern. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final decision to you.

If your complaint does not meet all of these time limits LeO may not be able to investigate it.

Contact details for the Legal Ombudsman:

PO Box 6167,

Slough,

SL1 0HE

Telephone:                   0300 555 0333 (from 8.30am to 5.30pm)

By minicom on:             0300 555 1777

From overseas:            +44 121 245 3050

 E-mail:                        enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Website:                     www.legalombudsman.org.uk 

 Alternative dispute resolution:

 Alternative complaints bodies, such as ProMediate UK Ltd (www.promediate.co.uk) exist and are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and this firm wish to use such a scheme. We do not usually agree to use such schemes as those operated by ProMediate UK Ltd as we believe the Legal Ombudsman is better equipped to resolve complaints against legal firms.

Note: If we entered into a contract for the provision of services with you online you may also be entitled to use the EU Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) Platform at: http://ec.europa.eu/odr to assist in resolving matters. The Platform will direct you to various Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) specialists who are competent to deal with complaints about legal service [e.g. www.small-claims-mediation.co.uk] however we should point out that this firm does not ordinarily use such schemes and relies upon the services of the Legal Ombudsman to resolve such matters.

Complaints about our professional conduct or behaviour:

Our regulatory body, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) can help you if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for concerns that you may have including dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.

 We are bound by various professional rules of conduct which can be viewed at www.sra.org.uk. You can also see more information about the help the SRA can give to you here:

https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/reportsolicitor.page

 Contact Details for Solicitors Regulation Authority:

 Address:           The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN

Telephone:        0370 606 2555 

Email:             report@sra.org.uk

 Website:          www.sra.org.uk

KEY STAGES OF A CONVEYANCING TRANSACTION

A conveyancing Transaction usually takes between eight and twelve weeks to complete. This is an estimate only.

Delays can occur that are beyond our control and can be as a result of surveys, mortgage applications, searches, leasehold properties or other parties in the chain.

Below is a guide of the stages in a sale and purchase.

  TIME

 Weeks                                                                                       SELLER’S SOLICITOR                                                                             

0                           Parties agree terms and instruct solicitors

 0-8                      Pre-contract stage

0 – 3                     Provide the draft contract and supporting papers, including standard information forms completed by the seller.                                 This may involve obtaining the title deeds from the seller’s existing mortgage lender. If the property is leasehold,                                 it will involve obtaining standard management information from the landlord. The management pack is often                                       sent after the main set of contract papers.

 2 – 8                    Respond to enquiries raised by the buyer’s solicitor. If the property is leasehold, some of the enquiries may have                                 to be referred to the landlord / management company.

                             Liaise with the seller to arrange signature of the contract and to confirm the completion date.

8                          Exchange of contracts

8-9                      Post – exchange / Completion period

                            Approve the completion documents and calculate the completion figure. If the property is leasehold, this will i                                      involve obtaining up-to-date rent and service charge figures from the landlord.

                            Prepare a financial statement setting out the calculation of the net proceeds of sale payable to the seller on                                          completion of the sale.

                            Liaise with the seller to arrange for the signature of the completion documents and for hardcopies of the signed                                  papers to be returned before completion.

10                         Complete

                             The seller must have moved out and cleared the property.

                             On receipt of the completion funds, authorise the estate agent to release the keys to the buyer.

                              Redeem the mortgage and send the net proceeds of sale to the seller. Pay estate agent unless instructed not to.

10-18                   Post – completion stage

                              Send the signed completion documents to the buyer’s solicitor.

PURCHASER'S SOLICITOR

0                          Parties agree terms and instruct solicitors

 0-8                      Pre-contract stage

2-8                       Check the papers and carry out searches. This involves investigating title and approving the contract. The search

                             results are provided by the local authority, water company and an environmental assessor.

                             Raise enquiries with the seller’s solicitor.

                             Await and check the mortgage offer.

                             Report to the purchaser.  Send Property information forms, fixtures and fitting form and where necessary                                             leasehold information form to the purchaser.

                            Liaise with the buyer to arrange signature of the contract, transfer of the 10% exchange deposit and to confirm                                  the completion date.

8                         Exchange of contracts

8 –10                 Post – exchange / Completion period

8 – 9                  Draft the completion documents and carry out Land Registry and bankruptcy searches. Request the mortgage                                     advance from the lender.

9 – 10                Based on the completion figure provided by the seller’s solicitor, prepare a financial statement setting out the                                       calculation of the balance due from the buyer in order to complete the purchase.

                          Liaise with the buyer to arrange for the payment of the completion funds and for the signature of the completion                                documents. The funds must have cleared the solicitor’s account and hardcopies of the signed papers must be                                      returned before completion.

10                     Complete

                         Transfer the completion funds to the seller’s solicitor.

                          On completion the buyer can collect the keys to the property and move in.

10-18               Post Completion

                         On receipt of the completion documents, register the purchase and mortgage at the Land Registry.

                         Complete stamp duty documentation.

                        If the property is leasehold, notify the landlord of the purchase and mortgage.

                        On receipt of the new title deeds from the Land Registry, send the deeds to the lender and the balance of                                              documents to the buyer.