Naiara
Collected on:
Staircasing
I’d like to share my experience with this law firm, and I expect someone to contact me—as I’ve been requesting since the beginning of my process.
I am staircasing from a flat in which I own 50%. This is my third time using New Homes Law. When I started the process on October 23rd, I was promised an eight-week lead time. However, by December, no progress had been made. Then I received an email from Nadine Bass stating that from that point forward, the process would be completed in eight weeks. Shortly after, she went on maternity leave, and to my dismay, Tahira Iqbal took over.
From then on, progress stalled completely. I had to chase repeatedly, while also being chased by the bank and the staircasing team because my solicitor was either unresponsive or failed to send necessary documents. When she did reply, she would claim she was waiting for consent to lend. I reminded her several times that my mortgage offer was expiring on March 30th. However, the New Homes Law portal incorrectly stated that my offer would expire on May 3rd. I corrected this multiple times.
On March 28th, she informed me that Santander required signed documents and that she would send them to me. She only sent them on March 30th—the day my offer expired. I called the bank, and they told me the offer could be extended, but the solicitor needed to request it. I immediately asked her to do so.
I sent the signed documents back on April 2nd and notified her that they were delivered to her office by April 3rd. I requested she forward them to the bank that same day. She did not respond until April 8th. After my partner called her, she said she would send them the next day, April 9th, even though the offer was due to expire on the 14th. The documents never arrived on time. When I called the bank again, they said she needed to request another extension. She eventually did, and later informed me the bank could no longer extend the offer and that they had not received the documents.
I asked her for proof of postage, but she said the documents were sent via standard mail and could not provide any tracking. She never apologized for causing me to lose the offer and the valuation, which I had to renew three times throughout this process.
Eventually, I contacted Santander again, and they said they would request another renewal and call me. I never received the call. On Wednesday, the 23rd, I called again and was told I’d be contacted. Then on the 24th, I received an email stating my offer had been extended by two weeks and that this was communicated to my solicitor. When I called Santander to understand the next steps, they informed me that they had received some documents—but they couldn’t use them because they were not signed by the solicitor. Other required documents, which needed to be witnessed by a solicitor, were never sent.
Now, my offer is expiring on the 28th. It was extended from the 14th, and my solicitor had received notice—yet nothing was done. If nothing changes, I’ll have to start the process from scratch. I am appalled that someone like this is still employed.
I have emailed Jessica Salt multiple times asking for intervention. Initially, she replied twice, but then stopped responding altogether. I am now beginning legal action against this firm. The staircasing team has also informed me that New Homes Law will no longer be on their panel from 2025/2026.
I want answers and a clear explanation of what went wrong.
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