lawrencestephens.com Avis 4

This is my personal experience. I used Lawrence Stephens, the solicitor introduced by ALESCO for the Gibson Quay Phase 2 purchase. The contract I was given offered no protection for my deposit, and when the developer went into administration, my funds were classed as unsecured.

I later learned that over 65 buyers in this ALESCO-marketed project face the same situation, with more than £2 million reportedly left unsecured. In my experience, the risks were not clearly explained, and the process did not provide the level of protection I expected.

I strongly advise buyers to seek fully independent legal advice before signing anything.

In August of 2024, this company has contacted me in relation to signing and facilitating the transfer of deed of a charity property. I found them to be disgustingly rude, arrogant, bullying and dishonest. They wanted to force me to sign a document, something that I was not sure about. In particular there was a nasty and horrible man who is unfortunately still working with that company, this man who is a member of staff known as Abtin Yeganeh. He is highly unprofessional and ill-mannered, using every method to intimidate me to forcefully make me sign a document. To the extent that he even accused me of something I never said and as a result I had no choice but to block him both on my email and on my telephone. I have never experienced anyone as aggressive and unprofessional as him in any professional organization. In general and in my opinion, this company is immoral. All they are interested in, is to get a signature from you and to make fast money. After speaking with another law firm about a different matter, I happened to mention Lawrence Stephens, I was advised that they are known for their dishonesty, rudeness and bullying tactics. I would highly recommend you to keep miles away from Lawrence Stephens. Plenty of good law firms in town.

Dissatisfaction with the service I received from your Dispute team regarding my tenant dispute case, which was referred to you by my conveyancing solicitor.

I was assigned three solicitors on an hourly basis, including a trainee, with Beth being my main point of contact. Unfortunately, the entire process was extremely slow and unresponsive, despite the urgency and distress I was experiencing. Emails were often replied to days later, with little information or clear direction on what steps to take. When I called for updates, the responses lacked knowledge, and the solicitors were not even fully aware of my case details.

There was no advice provided on crucial matters, such as not accepting rent to avoid automatic tenancy renewal. I had to rely on online information and then cross-check with Beth to get an answer. The lack of timely legal advice left me navigating the situation largely on my own, yet I was still charged an extortionate amount in fees.

For the fees I was charged, all I received was a review of my tenancy contract and NTQ, along with advice to wait until the contract expired. I ultimately had to rely on my estate agent’s solicitor and even ChatGPT for practical guidance.

DO NOT RECOMMEND ! When mistake happens they have started to ignore my emails and questions. Currently waiting for my deposit refund on an investment property which I have asked them serve a notice to rescind the contract, I have been checking and emailing, everything seems well and I was 2 days due for my refund then to be told that the notice has been rejected because they did not submit the notice in writing (postal copy or fax). All they did was to apologised "ohh sorry we made a mistake, not my problem you loss money, there, fill in a complaint form." I should have use another reliable company.