The Leasehold Advisory Service Avis 

Kemi is incredibly helpful. I've spoken to her in the past, and she was always given me clear and sound advice. I am thankful to have her help! Much appreciated!!

It took a bit long to receive a response (1 month), but it is a free service so I can't complain! Moreover, the response has been very professional and helpful, so I totally recommend this service. Thanks again

Very poor, flaky, not useful advice

Completed the online form prior to being given a telephone appointment so they had all the info. Was Then given a specific time slot where they would contact me. They were late so I missed the call. Then waited for 2 weeks to get another appointment. During the phone call with an extremely hostile operator when I struggled to get a chance to speak at all, I was told they couldn't advise on the matter and that the issue raised had nothing to do with the service they offered. Extremely unhelpful and very disappointing.

Contacted these guys on a fairly urgent matter and was told I could have a telephone appointment in 3.5 weeks' time or a written response in 10 working days. The receptionist, while polite, was cold, distant and utterly disinterested. Hopefully when the new Leaseholders' bill comes in, it contains a proposal to close this "service" down and save significant taxpayers'money!

Utterly useless.

Spoke to an advisor really hoping for some guidance around a freeholder issue I'm having. Unfortunately the person couldn't have been less helpful. Was overly abrupt to the point of being hostile and responded to everything with "I don't know".

A complete waste of time. Just made the situation more stressful and frustrating than it was before I'd made the call. Really disappointing.

The advisor actually gave wrong information, later this was confirmed by my solicitor. Very unhelpful, and a bit defensive when I asked questions which clearly she couldn't answer properly. I agree with others who have said the advisor just read out tracts of information and have no real knowledge of leasehold problems or law. It's clearly a service which purely exists to give the impression that there is a service.

Asked several questions by e mail all of which were replied to individually in their reply superbly. Took a few days for the response to come back but definitely worth waiting for. I was surprised as my last questions to them about 6 years ago were either misunderstood or answered dismissively so was over the moon this time that improvement. had come my way

Unhelpful , unknowable and unpleasant in their manner on the phone . I most definitely got the feeling they had absolutely no interest in why I was phoning . I was polite and friendly when phoning but I was given a cold and negative response . They call themselves an advisory service . I say they need investigating .

In the past the advisors were great. They obviously had a full understanding of leasehold law and matters generally and were able to answer questions clearly and left me with a much better understanding of any issue. More recently - I have phoned twice in the past six months. One advisor had poor English and simply read out tracts of information without explaining the implications. The lady I spoke with today didn't leave me feeling confident in her suggestions and I felt I knew more about the subject than her. The quality of their advisors had dropped sharply. Such a shame. This used to be a brilliant service

I was advised my CAB to call this company due to them being unable to advise on building insurance. So I called them, it says if you have an appointment press 1 for anything else, 2, the phone then rang, not telling me my position, started wondering if it was manned at all, it got answered over 20 minutes, I explained CAB had referred me, she said, 'Well you need to book an appointment' I said, that's fine, could I do that please, 'well, you have to go online to do this' she said, like I was supposed to know this.

She was very unhelpful, and the site is very difficult, CAB said they are unable to help, and this company website options are only for flats, not houses, and does not allow for any other option. So unable to book an appointment or even ask for advise on who could advise me.

I appreciate it's a free service but it's a poor one.

Had a great experience this morning. Had an appointment booked for a 15 minute appointment. I did have to wait in a queue to speak to someone, which seemed a bit odd, but I still got a 15 minute appointment just a bit later than scheduled. I had my questions prepared, as I knew 15 minutes would fly. The advisor gave me some great advice, related to aspects of the law I didn't know. I would say best to prepare well, and think if your question/s are concise enough to be answered in 15 minutes.

ZERO POINTS WOULD BE MORE APPROPRIATE
I have tried calling these people NUMEROUS TIMES Robot answers (so call charges begin), the usual push this button push that button do all of that NOBODY EVER ANSWERS THE CALLS. it just keeps ringing out quite literally for 20/30 + minutes each time STILL NO RESPONSE. Each time wasting both my valuable time and my money on useless calls WHICH MUST BE PAID FOR BECAUSE THE CALL HAS BEEN CONNECTED. Does this service even EXIST ?? TRUST PILOT YOU ASK FOR A SPECIFIC DATE AND THEN ONLY GIVE SPACE FOR ONE DATE - THIS PROBLEM HAS HAPPENED NUMEROUS TIMES NOW and nowhere to put any of the other dates !! Trust Pilot
Please get this situation sorted out to give reviewers a better service with the ability to give full answers and all relevant dates with a view to getting proper help.

The people who take the calls have poor English and are not even in the UK. They are not solicitors, they seem to be uni students or have done minimal company training. They do not have the knowledge to answer the questions.

Waiting on line for 20 minutes, before being transferred to reception and told no one can speak with you. You need to book well in advance, waiting upto 3 weeks and it doesn't make sense the waiting time is longer than the call, without the ability to connect. Upon being informed a call would be rescheduled, the same thing happens again. The reception have no co-ordination or adequate communication with team around what is happening. I'm sure there is useful utility of this service if they can better communicate and co-ordinate matching with appointments.

Their stock answer to the simplest of questions is 'seek professional advice'. All useful practical advice on running an RTM company is apparently outside of their scope.

Have used this service many times over the years with satisfactory results. However I am finding now that it very much depends on who you get on the phone. I have been unlucky to get the same adviser 3 times and she is veering on aggressive added to which I cannot understand what she is saying. Waste of time and I had to end the call as she just kept repeating a response without fully understanding my situation. Will keep re booking an appointment until I get someone I have had before

The website is useful but the advisor I was given was incompetent. I was incorrectly advised that the landlords can do what they want with the reserve fund as they are not asking for money, however this was all contributed to by leaseholders and we have been served a section 20 notice! Unsure what qualifies someone as an advisor as she was not even familiar with what is on the website.

I submitted a question using the online form over two weeks ago and have had no response. Frustratingly, I haven't even received an acknowledgement that my question has been received or an indication of the response time.

The same thing happened last year. Eventually, I got tired of waiting so booked a phone call, but I was told that I had to choose between getting a written response to my question or proceeding with the call and get nothing in writing!

Just come this govt advice service to be told what you already know - You have a lease - you are over a barrel - you just pay-of course they will advise you go to a tribunal and then the leeches that oversee your lease will add their legal fees to your service charge on top of what their taking off you already.
So the property management leeches will still keep legally ducking and diving, leeching your money or even disappearing with it And until our useless govt who have lots of talk with no action, reform leasehold laws this legalised theft wont stop.
As an update I am rid of the fleecehold property -no thanks to the rubbish advice I got here - This service is not fit for purpose in my view -a waste of taxpayers money.
I hope the new govt does better when Gove and his mates are kicked out !