Fentimans Solicitors Avis 

I have run a property business for around 15 years and have bought and sold many properties. Fentimans acted for the buyer on a flat I was selling, and in my opinion this was by far the worst conveyancing experience I have encountered.

There were what felt to me like routinely long delays between responses to my solicitor. Documents and information that had already been supplied were requested again, and on occasions my solicitor had to send information more than once before it was acknowledged.

Most concerningly, important information that we had already provided to Fentimans did not appear to have reached their own client. Eventually we found ourselves sending key documents and answers to the estate agent so that the agent could pass them directly to the buyer, simply to help keep the transaction moving.

The buyer appeared keen to proceed and, as we understood it, was also chasing his solicitor. Nevertheless, what should have been a relatively straightforward transaction dragged on for months, with a great deal of unnecessary chasing and very long gaps in communication.

I fully appreciate that conveyancing involves enquiries and proper due diligence. My complaint is not that questions were asked, but that we experienced repeated enquiries on matters that had already been answered, very slow responses and what appeared to be poor communication with their own client.

My solicitor, the estate agent and I spent an extraordinary amount of time chasing for basic progress, and we were told that the buyer was also having difficulty getting responses.

If I were buying or selling a property and discovered Fentimans were acting on the other side, I would be seriously concerned. Based on my experience of this transaction, I would strongly advise anyone considering using them for conveyancing to look elsewhere.

Rating one star because I can't do less than one.
AVOID this company at all costs. Less than poor communication, beyond terrible at replying and never manage to get anything done in a timely fashion.
At one point we were told they were ready to exchange, only to be given another list of enquiries, some of which, according to our solicitor, didn't even apply to residential properties.
My wife and I accepted the offer on our property in April and our buyer decided to used this "service". At every possible opportunity they were slow. To use the oxford definition of incompetent: means lacking the necessary ability, skills, knowledge, or qualifications to perform a job or task to a satisfactory standard. We have only just moved six months later.
In a final statement - AVOID AT ALL COSTS! Even our estate agents said they would lose a sale over working with them again.

PS - I'm aware that this is just my opinion and without any hard evidence this is subjective and not slanderous.

If I was able to, I would give zero stars for his company. They have dealt with the probate of my mother-in-laws estate and we have had to constantly chase them over everything. Unfortunately, the apartment took a long time to sell, but after the sale had gone through, getting the distribution of funds to the beneficiaries proved problematic. Phoning their office proved fruitless because nobody actually answered the phone 90% of the time. Once the accounts were signed off, I was assured the accounts department had been informed so payment could be made, but when, after a week had gone by and still no monies received by the beneficiaries, I had to chase to find out there was a delay.
I have never known a firm like this and it appears looking at other complaints, nothing really has improved/changed.

I would not recommend Fentiman Legal / My Law Matters based on our experience selling a leasehold apartment.

From the outset, communication was extremely poor. Emails went unanswered, promised callbacks never happened, and we spent months having to chase for even the most basic updates. On several occasions it was only after we contacted the firm that essential work was carried out.

The firm’s own complaints investigation later upheld that there had been unnecessary delays in requesting the management pack, delays in dealing with the management company’s payment request, delays in progressing enquiries, and poor handling of our complaint. They also reimbursed the expedition fee we had to pay because of those delays and paid compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused.

What I found most disappointing was that even after making a formal complaint and being assured that my file would receive oversight, the level of service did not noticeably improve. I continued to chase repeatedly for updates, contacted third parties myself to keep the transaction moving, and often discovered important information before my own solicitors informed me.

The complaints process itself reflected many of the same issues as the conveyancing. A report promised within four weeks took around twelve weeks, and I repeatedly had to chase for responses.

Every conveyancing transaction has delays involving different parties, but the avoidable delays acknowledged by the firm significantly added to an already stressful process.

In the end we completed our sale, but largely because we remained constantly involved in chasing progress. I hope the firm learns from this experience so that other clients receive the level of service they should reasonably expect.

We have recently used the Wolverhampton Office of My Law Matters for the Sale of a Family Property. They continually proved very difficult to deal with, incurred numerous delays throughout the process, didn't accept criticism or recognise own fault, charged us additional fees for checking an indemnity policy that wasn't ours, made numerous schoolboy errors during the preparation & checking of legal documentation but worst of all & without realising it themselves…committed a 3rd Party GDPR Data Breach during the final settlement process!

Stay clear unless you can handle a fight or want things to go smoothly.

Not surprised by the poor reviews. My buyer was recommended these by his mortgage provider. Easy sale with no chain , no surveys should have completed in October. Mid January and still no sign of a date . Every excuse used, avoid at all costs .

If I could give less stars I would. Absolutely diabolical service from start to finish. Almost 6 months end to end for a simple no chain house purchase, one first time buyer and one seller who was moving into his partners home.

The tears I have cried from frustration, and almost having our purchase fall through as the seller was losing patience.

Don't bother trying to ring, they are constantly 'in a meeting'. If you email as they ask, it would be more worth your while just screaming into the void, they won't reply.

Speaking to Mahsa, was akin to speaking to Dory from Finding Nemo, she could never remember who I was despite being my point of contact and the fact I was regularly having to ring (please bear in mind for the first 4 and a half months I was not doing this and was quite patient).

Despite always responding to requests for information in a timely manner, I never got a confirmation of receipt. And gallingly, on more than 5 occasions I was accused of never responding... and got no apology after sending evidence that I had!!

To say I had a Director acting as conveyancer on my purchase is very worrying also... perhaps too much on his plate?

Even when I got the apparent Operations Manager involved things were not much better!!!

Avoid these charlatans at all costs!!!!!!!

DO NOT USE! Unprofessional, arrogant, rude and ineffective. They cannot be trusted to carry out even basic legal work so AVOID at all costs. Our complaints were ignored but after taking this law firm to the Legal Ombudsman, who agreed with every one of our nine complaints submitted that service levels had been unreasonable, I feel totally justified in leaving this scathing review.

I'm currently selling a property and the purchaser has used these cowboys for conveyancing. We renovate and sell properties so we have dealt with various solicitors. These are by far the worst. Do yourself a favour and pay a little extra for local solicitors. Our property has no chain and a ftb, and it's been 4 months, with no end date in sight. So unprofessional. No communication. I'll be taking this further, and been advised to complain to the SRA, which I'm going to do, and advise anyone else whose had a similar experience.

Poor communication. I've sent a string of emails asking for updates - no response. Received 2 calls from a poor paralegal asking how they could help? Yes, get the solicitor assigned to the case to at least respond to an email! Every time I ask for their direct number this isn't forthcoming. No response. 'Messages' have apparently been passed to him as a 'matter of urgency' but still no response. I sent a survey section H 'actions for legal team' and they denied receiving it (they did, it was there showing as sent in my emails...) sent again and asked for acknowledgement- no response. Another email - no response. Totally unprofessional. Don't use this firm! Goodness only knows how they do business. Could never recommend them to anyone. Everyone seems to be chasing for information. Our vendors solicitors have also been chasing. There's a risk that the whole sale will fall through due to what seems to be incompetence- perhaps this sounds harsh, but no response to daily emails, not providing direct contact numbers.....what am I to assume?

We recently completed on a house purchase for which our sellers used Fentimans - the TL:DR of this review is if you are considering using this firm, or entering a contract with someone using this firm, don’t.

On the one hand I feel sorry for the solicitors working for Fentimans - it must be hard going to work each day knowing that you will no doubt open your inbox to a string of angry emails and complaints. On the other hand, mediocrity is within reach if they would only try.

Case in point: our sellers had two different Fentimans solicitors, one handling their sale to us and one handling their onward purchase. One of the two solicitors agreed exchange and completion dates with our sellers, so they arranged removals etc. We learned of this the day before the supposed exchange as they didn’t think to share this information with anyone else in the chain - meanwhile, we had shared dates we could complete the week before, and the date Fentimans agreed wasn’t on there. Nonetheless, we emailed our solicitor to say exchange was imminent. On the very same day, our solicitor was contacted by the OTHER Fentimans solicitor to say “we still have outstanding enquiries on our related. No exchange or completion date can be discussed” (or wording to that effect).

A sentence Fentimans solicitors may wish to copy and paste for future cases: “all enquiries are resolved for this transaction so we are ready to proceed to exchange BUT LET ME FIRST CONFIRM WITH MY COLLEAGUE THAT THE SAME IS TRUE OF HIS/HER RELATED.” They may also be interested to hear of the CC button which allows you to copy into emails colleagues working on the same file as you, so you can be sure you’re all saying the same thing.

Other highlights of our experience included Fentimans needing a week to “prepare for exchange” (despite apparently having been ready to exchange two weeks earlier), learning of a delay caused by Fentimans contacting the wrong bank, and failing to exchange on the date agreed because, despite the weeks notice, they seemingly didn’t tell the top of the chain of their plan so that solicitor was out of the office.

The string of negative reviews beneath mine should tell you all you need to know - engage this lot at your peril.

Unfortunately the first time buyer who wants to buy my flat decided to use this organisation. In spite of my solicitor dealing with everything very quickly the response from Fentimans was appallingly slow often not being able to get any reply. They constantly failed to do what they said they would and the most basic tasks took weeks. The proposed purchaser who wants to move in asap is now in danger of losing the property due to lack of performance of this company who after months are not even prepared to discuss exchange or completion dates . They obviously don't think that they owe there customer any type of meaningful service are in just in it for the money. Please avoid and save yourself the frustration and dissappointment that will follow.

As a first-time buyer, I made the mistake of choosing Fentimans becuase their fees were lower than other solicitors. A decision that I now deeply regret. Their communication is non-existent and phone calls and emails go unanswered for weeks. With my mortgage offer set to expire in two weeks, we have yet to exchange contracts and I am now worried the flat purchase may fall through.

⭐ 1/5 - Extremely Poor Service & Communication

I had a highly disappointing experience with My Law Matters during my property purchase. Despite being promised clear timelines, my transaction was significantly delayed, with little to no proactive updates. I had to chase them repeatedly for responses, often receiving vague, unhelpful replies. Even after all enquiries were resolved, they failed to progress my purchase for weeks, causing unnecessary stress and frustration.

Basic tasks like handling fixtures and fittings requests were mismanaged, and their overall lack of urgency made the process much more difficult than it needed to be. Their customer service was poor, and they did not take accountability when I raised a formal complaint.

I would not recommend My Law Matters if you value efficiency, communication, and professionalism. Avoid if you want a smooth conveyancing process!

Terrible, almost non-exsiting customer service.

4 months of trying to purchase a garage, for cash! 3 months of chasing the assigned solicitor for any information only to get answers that they were still waiting for something from seller's solicitors, and waiting, and waiting.
Days of no answer. We kept sending emails asking for an update only to wait for any answer.
Informed that we decided to withdraw from the purchase - no reaction, then an email after a week that they were still waiting, as if no one even bothered to read our emails!
Informal complaint - no reaction. Formal complaint (via email) - no reaction.
Asked for a refund as no service was provided - no answer, no refund.
Terrible customer service.

Would give zero stars if possible!

Cannot begin to explain how unprofessional this company is! Or at least the arrogant and rude team they have are unprofessional.

Had a horrific experience with them.

Completely incompetent, their poor performance meant we missed our move in date, no accountability and god forbid you complain because they’ll get a gobby and gas lighting swine to call and basically berate you for daring to question them. Over charged for a TERRIBLE service. Have lodged an official complaint with them but doubt they’ll take any notice.

Our broker and estate agents both experienced the same failings from them. This is not an isolated incident.

AVOID AVOID AVOID!!!!!!

So slow, and they don't answer the most basic of questions, last week on the 25th i got a letter emailed to me dated the 9th July, really wish i looked into the before i used them.

Totally Useless, incompetent and lazy.
Avoid like the plague!

Run a mile DONT USE THIS SOLICITORS
ITS 4 MONTHS SINCE I SOLD MY HOUSE AFTER WANTING 6 WEEKS FOR THEM TO SEND ENQUIRIES OVER AND THAT WAS WITH A THREAT FROM MY SOLICITORS TO REPORT TO THE OMBUDSMAN WE ARE STILL WAITING NOW FOR TRANSFER DOCUMENTS ANOTHER 2 WEEKS HAVE GONE BY BY
THEY ARE UNRELIABLE UNPROFESSIONAL AND NON-CONSISTENT

Absolutely terrible terrible service. Ranjit Bhogal has don’t nothing since having my file January the 31st I instructed the buying process to begin. I’ve have not spoke one word to him and only managed to speak to his assistant twice. The portal has had no change for 3 months and now there’s been pressure from the seller for a completion date he’s passed my file on to someone else!!!!! And I found that out from the estate agent not even himself. The biggest regret of my life using fentimans and now my home is being put back on the market due to his negligence. So so upset.