Peter Simon Benjamin

I wish I'd seen the many other t*rrible (not permitted to write that but it's very appropriate) reviews which reflect the experience I have had. Thoroughly unprofessional and have not delivered the service I paid for almost a year after I first instructed them and continuing to hold on to fees I have paid to them that need to be passed to my leasehold management company. This company has not fulfilled the basic requirements, and are impossible to get hold of. They have been awful throughout and after finally completing on the purchase in July 2025 (having missed my planned completion date for entirely avoidable reasons on the part of the solicitor, despite me telling them months before I was effectively homeless) I learned in November that the standard post-completion requirements to transfer the deeds of ownership to my name have not been delivered and fees which I have paid to the law firm have not been transferred to the management company. I raised this and requested this (basic requirement!) work was completed. It is now February and no action has been taken. It is impossible to speak to anyone at the company as the reception desk fobs you off, no-one ever calls back, and they do not respond to emails. I put in an official complaint in early December which has been acknowledged but not responded to. I have now referred my complaint to the Legal Ombudsman however since that can take 4 months to review and in the meantime the work remain incomplete so the apartment I have purchased is not legally in my name and as such I am not receiving leaseholder updates nor am I able to pay the service charge due. Other issues throughout the process: *Every document I received from them had a different purchase price, it was not once the correct figure. *Systematic lack of communication, I have had to chase for every step. I had hoped to complete in 3 months as there were no chains involved, it took 5 months and post-completion requirements are outstanding 6 months after the completion date). *Sent me badly scanned, illegibly document to sign for the Land Registry which I queried and was told to sign and it would be fine - 3 months post-purchase I was asked to sign and backdate a new version as Land Registry would in fact not accept it. *Most employees have a severe attitude problem. *No legal advice was provided, they delivered the bare minimum and I have checked and chased the work myself throughout. This caused and is continuing to cause substantial stress and anxiety and with their continued refusal to act or provide updates I am at a loss what to do to get my apartment fully in my name and the fees this company is holding sent to the management company they are owed to.

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Peter Simon Benjamin

So many mistakes and inaccuracies - in process of official complaint and claim against them for all their oversights and fines they cost me for never paying the stamp duty (they held it in their account). Didn't register my property sale until 6 months after completion and only when I threatened complaint to SRA. Never answered calls or emails. Don't believe the 5 Star reviews - Try calling them and press the number for existing client - they will never pick up.

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Peter Simon Benjamin

Went with Ackroyd Legal for my flat purchase and it has been an absolute disaster. From the beginning, I recevied essentially 0 contact after paying the initial fee, following that it seemed that nothing would move/get resolved until I phoned up dozens of times. Emailing is pointless, as 99% of them go unanswered, promised call backs never materalise. It got to the point that the seller threatened to pull out of the sale unless things moved on. I finally completed on the purchase and I thought that would be the end of it. Unfortunatly, a year and a half later the management company has still not received the post completion documents despite dozens of emails and phone calls to Ackroyd legal to do so, meaning that I am unable to deal with the management company/pay service charge putting me at legal and financial risk; Additionally Ackroyd Legal have been ignoring communications from the land registry about the transfer application; and the land registry is now saying they will cancel the application unless Ackroyd legal responds. I would not recomend ackroyd legal to anyone, and advise anyone else to look elsewhere.

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Peter Simon Benjamin

We were looking to sell and buy a house at the end of 2021 and found Ackroyd Legal online. I admit that I was a bit concerned about some of the reviews I read about them but the price was good and incorrectly believed that it didn’t matter too much who ‘conveyed’ the move. That was my biggest mistake. The whole process was a faff from start to finish which resulted in them ‘forgetting’ to pay off our old mortgage and also forgetting to register our ownership with land registry (among many other shortcomings) I am not into naming and shaming but our case handler, Chirag Chopra, was at best not experienced and at worst intentionally obstructive. He was unresponsive to emails and request from myself and from conveyancers from the buyers of our house. In the end the conveyancers for the buyers and the estate agents ran everything through me to ensure that it was followed up on. It was far from a smooth and easy going process. To be fair Chirag came under a solicitor Peter Benjamin who literally was missing in action on all and any communications. If he was setting an example then I am not surprised that Chirag was so poor. Once we had dragged ourselves through about 4 months of absolutely shoddy conveyancing we moved into the house. By this point I had made a number of complaints to Ackroyd legal including the non existent complaints department, the CEO, the accounts team and the solicitor. None of which were followed up on. After we moved in we found that Ackroyd legal had not paid off the old mortgage in full! So we spent another number of stressful days getting them to sort this payment out!! I made a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman as I felt it was my duty to inform them of Stirling Ackroyd legals many shoddy practices hoping to draw a line under everything. Unfortunately it was not to be. By April 2022, 5 months after moving into our house we were looking to have some insulation installed via the government warm homes scheme. In order to do this we needed to show our proof of land registry. It turns out that Sterling Ackroyd legal had not bothered to register our ownership. So again we make contact with them and they slowly start the process. We just about lose the opportunity to get the work done because it is taking so long. Chirag finally gets the registration done and then we receive a fine from land registry as ‘we’ aka our shoddy solicitors, have taken over 4 months to register. So begins another series of emails with Chirag at Ackroyd legal and thankfully they get the fine sorted at their cost. The saga of selling and buying with Stirling Ackroyd Legal was a horrible experience. I don’t believe it was only Peter and Chirag who were responsible but the whole company. They were not present or communicative and were not conducive to making it pleasant or smooth. In fact they put the whole deal in jeopardy!! Use these guys at your own risk. The sales pitch was ok but once you sign with them that’s when it went downhill for us. Pay a little more and check the reviews and go with someone else. At the very least avoid those individuals mentioned.

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Peter Simon Benjamin

Rey Caliskan was my Conveyancer – very unprofessional. I lost my first house because of her, after 6 months of praying to her to answer back or to do anything, I was almost kneeling on my emails for an answer. Then I discovered that the seller sold to someone else because of lack of communication and was unhappy with my Solicitor. My Solicitor was greedy, was overloaded with cases and was unable to manage the pressure from all the clients. She was also admitted to hospital as a result. Shame on you, you ruined everything, was my first dream that you turned into a nightmare. Till today I'm still on rent because of Ackroyd Legal. I'm wasting all my savings on rent instead of spending on my house, it's Karma. Only two things needed for this review- 1. There should be a ZERO STAR option. 2. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY. If you want zero communication and complete in-competent conveyancers then go ahead and sign up.

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Peter Simon Benjamin