Birdsall & Snowball

Quite a protracted sale of a flat where the other side were conveyancers rather than solicitors and it showed in the level of professionalism A personal service with a good local Solicitor

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Luke Dolby

We have been customers of Birdsall & Snowball for many years and we are totally shocked to the service and the treatment provided by Mr. Colley and Mr. Leathard. Worst Lease drawn by Mr. Colley!!, We have been dropped right in it!!:(, by not following our instructions, not taking my concerns into consideration and worst of all lying that the terms and conditions agreed, were not inserted on the lease. When the lease was finally signed he asked us to come and collect the check from his office, we asked is the full amount been paid, he said yes, only one month free he said yes. When we went to collect the check, to our surprise he declined to give us the check and wait for next week as the check was not ready. The week after we collected the check with an amount of one month rent missing, when we asked why? he said he made a mistake, by one month rent of over £2500?? let you judge such answer Requesting the wrong rent from the tenant?? When we asked for our signed lease it took more than two weeks to get a copy, which it didn't include the term of One month Free rent Only!!?? All our concerns been ignored by Mr. Colley and now the tenant has done a runner and didn't pay the rent for the missing month and even worst to date no rent received, equipment stolen (worth more than £4000), insurance not paid, utilities bills not paid (Electricity, Gas, telephone and others). As we have been ignored by Mr. Colley when we confronted him, on why did he say the term is inserted on the lease and why didn't he get the correct rent from the tenant. We had no alternative except to escalate the matter to the Ombudsman and Mr. Leathard took over and he was as untrustworthy as Mr. Colley by confirming the term of one month rent free only was incorporated when it was clearly not. We requested Mr. Leathard to highlight the term on the lease, obviously he couldn't and came up with further nonsense, it is not on the lease but the lease is signed from the 1st of May and we could chase the tenant for two months rent instead of one, i.e. not from the 1st of June, even when we clearly stated we will honor one month rent free. ~~We were gob smacked!!! we can chase the tenant for rent from the 1st of May instead of 1st of June (how honorable of them)~~. Furthermore he stated there is no need to put the term of one month free rent on the lease because solicitors can agree via email on the terms without inserting the terms on the lease??, and he shared supposedly an email (hard copy, no soft copy) sent to the tenant solicitor stating only one month rent free will be honored?? Even worst when it came to the crunch and the tenant did a runner without paying rent, insurance, steeling equipment and damaging equipment and the property, total cost to up to £12000. Mr. Leathard and Mr. Colley decided to drop us and to not assist us taking the tenant to court to get our money and get him to pay for the 11 year lease he signed. What can we say! trustworthy, honest, honorable, professional, work for your interest with integrity and treat you correctly as a customer = no where near and far from all of that, they have none of it and can't advise you more. The system in the UK is one of the best in the world, unfortunately there is a layer of people representing our system the wrong way without any professionalism or integrity. Unworthiness has become the norm for some people who practice law in our country and this is my summary about Birdsall & Snowball.