Chris Macartney

Bishop & Sewell took care of the lease extension on our flat. The whole experience was very easy and pain free.

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Chris Macartney

Clare Groom

We were referred to Bishop & Sewell via a project management firm as a number of leaseholders wanted to buy the freehold for our block of 23 flats. Initially I felt the fees proposed for our purchase seemed very high given they far exceeded the fees I had paid in a prior collective enfranchisement. It seemed this was largely due to the firm’s insistence on charging on a per participant basis, despite the firm never really intending to deal with more than one or two of those participants to take instructions on the matter. However, I was persuaded by the recommendation and the good reviews online that this firm would be worth the money. All I can say is that I was very disappointed. The partner assigned to our case, Chris Macartney, was generally very slow to deal with our case, had an aversion to the telephone and seemed unwilling to explain things to participants. I was something of the lead person in the purchase and as I already understood a lot about the process, I feel that any queries I raised were perfectly valid. However, my questions about whether or not the wording of certain documents was appropriate for the group were dismissed and Chris would simply refuse to engage with such matters. He would often not reply to emails from me for more than a week and he never returned a single one of my telephone messages throughout the entire process. The general impression I got was that he felt he was not being paid enough to waste his time on our case and he virtually said as much when queried about our completion statement, to which he had added fees beyond what we’d originally agreed. I really could not understand why he felt he was owed so much more than what we paid. The purchase itself was very straightforward in comparison to the one I’d previously been involved in and indeed many others I’ve heard about – after serving our initial notice the freeholder’s counter offer was reasonable, there was limited negotiation about price and there was no arguing over the terms of transfer documents. Yet we were charged £16,320 (including VAT) in fees for his work on our case. In comparison, the freeholder’s solicitor charged £3,600 to deal with it from the other side. These fees should not have been so wildly different. We had been quoted less than half of what Bishop & Sewell charged by another reputable firm and I accept that we made a mistake in agreeing to Bishop & Sewell’s very high fees from the outset. However, having done so I personally expected to receive much better service and this was one reason we chose the firm. I’ve previously paid large sums to solicitors and felt they were worth it; I’ve also made the mistake of paying too little and experiencing poor service. Generally I feel you get what you pay for, but in this case I really feel we didn’t. I’d describe the experience as the worst of both worlds: huge fees and poor service. I would not use this firm again.

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Chris Macartney