New Homes Law Ltd

I had a very frustrating experience with Newhomes Law regarding a property purchase in Chelmsford. After the developer delayed the project, I was forced to pull out before the exchange of contracts. Despite no exchange taking place, the firm charged a disproportionately high 'abortive fee' that did not reflect the actual work completed. Furthermore, the firm requested my full deposit months before a confirmed exchange date, causing me a loss of interest while they held my funds unnecessarily. Communication was extremely poor throughout; it was nearly impossible to get through via telephone, and it frequently took weeks to receive a response to urgent emails. I have now received a Letter of Deadlock and am escalating this matter to the Legal Ombudsman. I would advise other buyers to be very cautious before instructing this firm

This is now my second one star review for NHL, which should tell you everything. My first review covered the appalling service I received during my shared ownership purchase — easily one of the worst professional experiences I’ve ever had. After a year of zero communication from them, delays, and total disorganisation, I completed the purchase and tried to move on. Fourteen months later, I’ve been hit with a bill for nearly £700 for an unsettled service charge from before I even owned the property. Only now has it become clear just how badly NHL mishandled my case. They failed to ensure the service charge account was settled on completion, and they failed to ensure the retention was held until it was resolved — basic, fundamental steps in conveyancing that any competent firm would treat as standard. A genuinely shocking level of incompetence. What makes this even more infuriating is their behaviour since. Instead of answering straightforward questions about missing documentation pertaining to those accounts, they immediately tried to shift blame onto the seller’s solicitors for holding the retention for 12 months — which is completely normal. Then they attempted to excuse themselves by saying the case handler had left the firm, as if that somehow absolves them of responsibility for their own negligence. And now, they’ve simply stopped responding altogether. It’s astonishing to witness a firm operate with this level of incompetence, avoidance, and disregard for their clients. The way they conduct themselves feels more like a back street operation than a regulated legal service. Their so called “customer charter” is meaningless in practice. I would strongly urge anyone considering NHL to avoid this firm like the absolute plague. And by the way, the reason there are so few one star reviews on trust pilot is because NHL flag them all and use every tactic in the book to get them taken down. They tried to do that with the first review I left. And not only that, but they seem to have removed themselves from google maps so you cant leave reviews about them on google anymore.

New Homes Law is completely unreachable and caused us extreme stress. They ignored every email from both the buyer’s and seller’s solicitors, and their phone lines go straight to voicemail. Staff went on leave without any notice or handover, showing a total disregard for exchange dates. Things got so bad that my estate agent has now officially blacklisted them due to their incompetence. Their lack of accountability nearly ruined our entire move—do not use this firm.

I am extremely disappointed with the post-completion service provided by New Home Law. It has now been two years since I purchased my property, and the land registration remains incomplete. Despite repeatedly chasing Alix Robinson since August 2024, I have received no meaningful updates or responses. This prolonged delay has caused significant stress and frustration. Additionally, due to poor advice and mishandling of my case, I was moved onto a variable interest rate, resulting in avoidable financial loss — a situation that should never have occurred had my case been managed competently and responsibly. In an effort to seek clarity, I contacted HM Land Registry (HMLR) directly, and was informed that: • Multiple reminders have been sent to New Home Law, • No response has been received from your firm, • The registration remains pending solely due to inaction on New Home Law’s side. The level of communication has been unacceptable. Every time I call, I am told Alix is “in a meeting,” yet she has not returned a single email, voicemail, or follow-up request. There has been no accountability, no transparency, and no urgency in resolving this matter. Purchasing a home is one of the largest financial commitments a person will ever make, and the post-completion process should reflect expertise, diligence, and proactive communication. Unfortunately, my experience has reflected the opposite. I urge senior management to take notice, review internal processes, and ensure that no other client is subjected to the same level of service failure that I have endured. Based on my experience, I cannot recommend this firm.

I've never experienced such bad communication - even had to complain to their customer care team, who had no sympathy either. Worse, months of delays in conveyancing caused my onward purchase to fall through and not only did New Homes Law not apologise for it, they didn't even acknowledge it. Post-completion, I have also been told I am not due funds back for something that my conveyancer advised me to pay and that I'd be reimbursed for. Having worked with other solicitors, I know for a fact that this is not the norm. What I have deduced is that they under charge for their services in an attempt to get more cases but they don't have enough qualified solicitors so the ones they do have burn out. My assigned conveyancer went off ill several times throughout the process and once told me she was about to have a breakdown. Take my advice and spend a couple hundred more to use someone else because the stress, delays, and (as it turns out in the end) incompetence cost me hundreds of pounds and years off my life.

Clear and friendly advice and was kept up to date all the way through. Grace, Jack, Niamh and all the team that helped me were obviously very experienced with the type of mortgage I needed and made it as easy as possible. Thanks to you all.

Absolutely delighted to be in my new house,Grace,Jack,Millie and Charlotte were fantastic in the process and any problems were dealt with instantly and made the move so smooth.would recommend New Homes Law to all and any other moves I have they will be called instantly to sort out.

I echo all the 1 star reviews here. I could waste a lot of time writing everything, I will however tell you of 1 occasion I’ve still had no explanation about during the 15 week process , I was made to think could only take 6-8 weeks. There was a 3 week period where they had apparently sent my mortgage offer to sage and was awaiting there response, every time I emailed they would say , we haven’t heard nothing back and are chasing them, leaving emails and voicemails. After 3 weeks of this I finally got in touch with sage who are even worse with communication and they told me they just received the mortgage offer that day, I asked NHL to explain and I don’t believe I even had a response apart from they will look into this. It also causes a lot of stress when you find out at the end of the process you are going to have to pay a lot of unexpected costs of fees to the seller I am liable for, that aren’t included in your original quote you get in the beginning but when I queried this, it’s on page 2 or 3 of the quote, I’d expect someone working on your behalf to make that small detail clear from the off. It just makes you feel extremely stressed and like you’re being conned. James the client care guy was the best experience of the process, he was at least very kind and made you feel that your custom mattered. Grace in particular was the worst of the experience and she was the main handler of my case, she did at least remain professional and kind in the emails I did receive which were never a response to a enquiry. I did delete a review I gave early on in the process because james reached out to me in client care was really kind and made good communication but I just can’t give more stars, overall the experience was just so stressful. You should be offered to be compensated, it might make a difference with these experiences if they investigate and find your process to be unsatisfactory, not trying to justify things on a response to people’s reviews. They litterally asked me because I’m a first time buyer stamp duty is 0, Do you want to pay more stamp duty again if you ever own 80% or more of your home. Yes of course I would I love to burn money! It’s like they don’t have your best interests as a concern at all. Most times I rang a moody person answered. I would not recommend.

We had such a positive experience with New Homes Law, we were reassured all the way through the process and cannot thank Charlotte Bentall enough for her professional and timely attention at all times. Would highly recommend.

I have worked closely with Charlotte and the team at New Homes Law on behalf of our purchasers for Higgins Homes and have been consistently impressed by their professionalism, communication, and customer-focused approach. Charlotte keeps all parties informed throughout the transaction, responds promptly to queries, and takes the time to guide purchasers through the legal process in a clear and reassuring manner. This proactive communication helps reduce uncertainty for buyers and contributes to smoother transactions from reservation through to completion. A pleasure to work with and a real asset to both clients and developer partners alike. I would have no hesitation in recommending Charlotte and New Homes Law.