Hutchins & Co

Aliosman and his team helped me with the estate of my late mother.
Their legal knowledge and explanations helped me and my sisters through a very difficult time. We are all very grateful

This was my first experience of using a solicitor and can't say I was impressed. I felt for the majority of the process, Ivory was doing me a favour by carrying out the work but I was paying her to do this!

I started the process with Hutchins on the 18th of December 2023. The day after I expressed that I would want completion to be done on the 2nd February 2024. The first recognition of this request was on the 25th of January 2024 to say it's too early to consider this. The first email I received from Ivory was on the 17th of January 2024. This was after numerous emails from myself and numerous phone calls to Hutchins where I was often met with the response that Ivory was engaged or out of the office.

I was asked if I was a first time buyer on the 6th of February 2024. 7 days later I was chasing Ivory to see if she had acquired the management pack yet on the 13th of February 2024. This is almost 2 full months from me paying Hutchins to carry out the work for the purchase. On the 15th of February I was told that the management pack was being reviewed and that [Ivory] "would come back to [me] by Wednesday of next steps in aid of swift exchange and completion" this is less than a month after being told the 3rd of February was "much too soon" for completion. Why I was being told there would now be a swift exchange was confusing and unneccesary. I was still chasing for the fixtures and fittings list at this point.

On the 26th of February 2024, 10 days after being told to expect an email on the 21st of February, I was chasing along the lines of "How are you getting on with the work? Any idea when completion might be?" The day after I received the fixtures and fittings list. This is over 2 months from the start date. Also, if I wasn't a first time buyer and I expressed that I wanted completion done by the 3rd of February, because let's say I had told my buyer this; I could technically be homeless by now.

On the 4th of March 2024, almost 3 months from beginning the process it was suddenly "noticed" by Ivory that I was receiving a gift from my parents for the purchase. I was now being told firmly that without concrete evidence of where the money had come from, I would not be allowed to exchange or complete on this matter. I gave this information on the very first day I signed up with Hutchins, it should have not been a surprise. I was asked at this point for my parents' contact email and phone number which I had already given numerous times on multiple forms sent to me by Hutchins and then sent back to them.

On the 23rd of April, I emailed Ivory as I had been told by the estate agent that she had spoken to them about getting an exchange done for the flat. On the 29th of April I emailed asking for forms for exchanging and wondering about the delay. I was told Ivory had been on annual leave, clearly I had not been told about this and I do wonder if she would even bother at this point to come to me first about anything.

On the 3rd of May I was still hoping to get an exchange done. The solicitors on the sellers side were ready to go at least 2 weeks before that as I had been told by the estate agents after I was telling them that my solicitor had missed her own deadline. On the 6th of May I sent forms via special delivery to Hutchins and received no report that they had received them and I chased them on the 7th of May. I was apparently meant to have "recevied a text alert on [my] mobile" "has this not come through? :o" (Emoticon included in the email) The day after I let her know I've never had a text alert from Hutchins.

On the 24th of May the estate agent was checking how things were going and happened to mention "I gather from Ivory she has sent you everything including the garage paperwork." This was the first time I had heard about the garage paperwork, I had never seen it before, it was never sent to me. I asked Ivory and was told it "was previously sent" and "to check [my] spam or junk folders next time" trust me there will not be a next time with this level of pretentiousness. I work in IT, before I emailed I scoured my inbox and any junk folders I had, I am adamant I was never sent this paperwork and am appalled I had to chase for something I didn't know existed.

On the 29th of May it was finally agreed to exchange on the property. During the exchange I was sent what appears to be a fabricated email sent to me on the 7th of December 2023

Around the 5th of June I was being asked if I was happy to complete on the 12th of July which I said yes to. I gave authority for this on the 7th of June. No response from Ivory. I emailed Ivory on the 10th of June reiterating she has my authority. On the 13th of June I asked if she had got any further with the exchange. On the 18th of June the estate agent chased me wondering what Ivory was doing. I cc'd Ivory into an email chain with the estate agent stating how I had called and emailed on the 18th to which I'd not had a response. 20 minutes later Ivory emailed through all the information.

On the 3rd of July I received confirmation of the completion of the flat - from the seller's solicitor not mine.

Months after the flat had been bought and everything I realised I wasn't signed up with the management company. I asked Ivory if this had been done to which I was told on the 2nd of December "Yes it's been done but I can look into it now". On the 11th of December I chased Ivory wondering what was going on. I didn't receive a response. On the 17th of December I chased again where I was told "it is an extremely busy time, further hindered by being asked to do something again that has already been done". Context from me: I don't know whether Ivory has done her work or not, I'm not a manager at Hutchins & co. I just know the management company is saying I'm not the name they have down for my flat and I can't do anything about it essentially.

On the 3rd of January I emailed Ivory to say that I called the management comapny and they told me they have not received the notice of transfer. The work had not been done contrary to the confident email on the 2nd of December. In an email with the management company I was told they had recevied my emails but they had only "received the email from your solicitor this morning" being the 3rd of Janaury.

For someone with an auto reply email saying that you can't answer the phone due to a speech impediment you'd expect emails to be much more punctual or at least polite.

Poonam acted for us when we sold our apartment at auction and she was absolutely brilliant from start to finish.
Really efficient and friendly, and very professional too.
Everything went really smoothly and Poonam kept us informed throughout.

If your reading this . Avoid at all cost. They Are tardy with comms, they don't follow through and they add stress to an already stressful situation.

Incompetent and not good enough