Franklins Solicitors LLP

Thought Franklins had done an amazing on my property purchase in August 2022. Unfortunately in April 2024 I discovered that the management fee accounts dating back as far as 2017 had not been finalised and all of the adjustments were now my financial responsibility. As my acting solicitor on my purchase it was Franklins responsibility to have found this out and advise me of it pre purchase. As it stands at the moment I am £1300 out of pocket with another 2 years 8 months of adjustments that date prior to my purchase that I will be liable for when the accounts are completed. I have been in contact with Franklins since April and gone through their 8 week complaint process and all I have had back is "they are conacting the sellers solicitor". Appalling!

We contacted the conveyancing department yesterday regarding issues with my daughter's house move. We live in Australia. Managed to speak to the person responsible for dealing with the move, insisted she send us the information necessary for us to assist with speeding up the matter. This person assured us that she will send documents through via email within a day. It is day 2 and we have not received anything from her. When we spoke to her on the phone from Australia, we were insistence that she acts quickly as this may impact on my daughter's house purchase. Potentially she could lose the purchase after having already waiting for 8 months for Franklins to conduct the purchase. We are totally disappointed and and dissatisfied with the conveyancing team and their attitude with the handling of properties purchase. We are surprised with the number of negative reviews they are still in business. The next stage would be for us to contact the legal ombudsman regarding their practice.

I found them awfully slow and almost impossible to contact them. We had to delay the exchange for a week due to my solicitor's inability to communicate. I had to chase them number of times during that 3-4 months period, sometimes estate agents had to nudge them. Overall they made the process a lot of stressful.

DO NOT USE THIS FIRM! I had to report them to the Legal Ombudsman who agreed Franklin’s offer a poor service. It took Franklin’s (Denise Watson)seven months to complete on two properties even though there was no chain. They lost documents and took over two years to send through NHBC documentation. They had an IT breach and we received scam emails for a few months showing our personal information from the hacker. This meant we had to change our internet provider to prevent further scam emails. They do not record their telephone conversations, so whatever you instruct them verbally is not noted and therefore you cannot hold them to account over promised verbal instructions you receive or give them! BEWARE!

Solicitors tagged in
this review

Scott Wright

Rosanna Stimson

12/01/2024

Dear Heather, Thank you for your feedback. As you have already stated, you reported this matter to the Legal Ombudsman who have conducted an extensive review of this matter and the way it was handled. We are disappointed to see that a number of the points mentioned in your review are factually incorrect and also omit key information, including: • At no stage did the Legal Ombudsman agree that the service was poor • Your review mentions Scott Wright, who was not involved in your matter • Your review also does not mention that the Legal Ombudsman review found that we took all reasonable steps to keep your data safe and secure. We take data security very seriously and are one of the only law firms to have achieved and maintain the Cyber Essentials Plus Certification As you are aware, we have taken the necessary steps to remedy any issues found by the Legal Ombudsman. We take constructive feedback on board and are always looking at ways we can improve the experience for our clients and embed this into our training and processes. However, we believe that your review does not accurately reflect your experience for the reasons listed above. Regards, Rosanna

Professional and efficient. I would definitely recommend and would not hesitate to use them again.

Had used Franklin's before for a house sale so used them for my house purchase. They kept me informed and it all went through much quicker than expected which was good.

Great people. Great service. I didn't expect it will be so easy for me to do re-mortgage. Claire was always in touch with me on all steps and helped a lot.

Wonderful service - completed in a friendly, understandable manner. Franklins dealt with our legal housing matter with superb knowledge and efficiency. Hannah and her team are absolute stars! We certainly would recommend Franklins for all legal enquiries.

I used Franklins recently for a house purchase. I found the whole team to be extremely helpful and professional. I dealt mainly with Rebecca Jones & Scott Wright. I would definitely recommend them to anyone, Rebecca especially, has been very helpful

Very difficult sale many problems but all dealt with efficiently and with friendly service happy with costs