Much like the review below, my overall experience with this firm was far from great, from the start and beyond the end (which I'll get to).
First off, this was a simple chain free purchase and sale. I chose Waterstone on the back of the seemingly endless 5 star reviews, which is confusing in itself. Initial instructed at the end of January on the sale, followed swiftly by the purchase a week around 10 days later. The SDLT deadline was end of March and I was filling aware this was unlikely to hit that deadline. Whilst Shah (the Partner) was very quick to request the initial £600, this was not allocated to a solicitor until a week later (as she was off sick). Fine, I accept that.
Following this, the next 2 months seemed to go fairly smoothly once this was allocated to Nithi Kumar, however this was short lived. Upon their. Realisation that this will not meet the SDLT deadline and therefore, no longer fit for expedition, the foot was firmly taken off the gas. Admittedly some issues were beyond their control, however basic things were continuously missed . The firm rarely offer advice, guidance or just pick up the phone to speak to you.
Nithi required constant chasing from my agent and myself, to the point where weeks would often fly by with nothing. Also, when a solicitor at this firm is on annual leave, the file is not passed or looked at by anyone. This occured during the final, very stressful weeks leading to me having to email Shah with an email of dissatisfaction. Usually, firms treat these as complaints and respond swiftly, unfortunately not in this case as there was no response after a week, which prompted me to constantly need to call and chase their office.
As a positive, on Nithi's return, the final week of completion was as smooth as can be expected, but by then the damage had already been done.
I had planned on writing a review but left it be, as the job was done and it's a firm I wouldn't use again.
However, 3 weeks after completing, my agent called stating they had not received their (well deserved) fee. Waterstone had simply failed to send it on, despite the agent issuing the invoice. Not only is is embarrassing for me but simply unacceptable as the T&Cs stipulated by my agent stated an 8% fee will be charged if the fee is not transferred within 7 days. Thankfully, my agent was well aware of this firms lack of attention and did not charge an additional fee. If the fee had been charged, I certainly would have billed it to Waterstone! No explanation was provided to me but my agent advised this was sorted.
As you can tell, this probably deserved a one star, however as the matter did eventually conclude, I feel this is harsh. With that said, if you are looking to instruct them for a property purchase/sale and if you are looking to complete within a reasonable time, do not instruct Waterstone Legal. Property also appears to be a small part of that they do, which possibly explains why no one else can deal with queries when someone is absent.
Oh and they have an app which is completely pointless as it is never updated.
