Attwells Solicitors LLP

Our transactions have not been straightforward and have been dealt with a standard of professionalism over and above what we would have expected. Our dealings could be best described as being on a friend to friend basis which made interaction between both parties very reasuring

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Nicola Cannell

While I had initially planned to give Attwells Solicitors a 5-star rating for their handling of our conveyancing, handled by Lisa Caporaso, during our property purchase in Colchester, I am now disappointed with their service. Unfortunately, there has been a significant issue regarding our Stamp Duty Tax payment to HMRC, as indicated by multiple letters we have received. To summarize the facts: # We provided Attwells with a deposit and the stamp duty amount exceeding £100k on May 2nd, 2023. # The completion date was May 22nd, 2023. # The Stamp Duty Tax was due by June 5th, 2023. # We received our first letter from HMRC dated June 7th, indicating that the payment had not been made. # We promptly contacted Attwells, who assured us that there was no cause for concern. # Upon contacting HMRC, we discovered that the payment had never been processed, potentially due to an incorrect UTR number. HMRC advised us to request that Attwells contact them with specific details to rectify the situation. They also informed us that, unfortunately, the responsibility for tax matters lies with the purchasers, not the solicitors representing us. # We conveyed this information to Attwells, who assured us they would handle it. # Subsequently, we received a second letter from HMRC dated June 21st, 2023. # We have now received a third letter dated July 5th, stating that interest would now be charged on the outstanding amount. Regrettably, as a result of this ongoing issue, I feel compelled to leave this negative review. Despite the positive reviews we initially saw, it only takes one failure to cause significant complications with HMRC, which is something no one wants to endure. At this point, it has been over a month, and Attwells has yet to resolve the SDLT issue, prompting my decision to write this review and inform them of their error via email and phone. Based on our experience, I strongly advise against choosing Attwells for your conveyancing needs. While they may have many positive reviews, our situation demonstrates that their failure to rectify a single problem can lead to unnecessary difficulties with HMRC, an outcome that should be avoided at all costs. If, for some reason, you still decide to proceed with Attwells, I strongly recommend insisting on handling your own SDLT payment, as it is a straightforward process involving a bank transfer to the HMRC account using your UTR as the reference. Unfortunately, this task seems to be beyond Attwells' capabilities. Words cannot express how disappointed we are. These letters from HMRC are the last thing we needed, considering the various other issues demanding our attention and straining our finances. **On a separate note, I would like to highlight a few issues we encountered during our property purchase that others should be aware of: # The property required more extensive renovation work than we had anticipated due to smoke and nicotine damage. If you suspect the property was previously occupied by smokers, I would advise either avoiding it altogether or renegotiating the price by 15% to 20% due to the significant challenges posed by third-hand smoke. # The central heating system was over 20 years old, necessitating the installation of a heat pump. However, the property has micro bore piping, which restricts water flow. If you encounter a similar situation, be prepared to invest in new piping. # We also discovered the need for electrical upgrades and rewiring due to faulty wiring.

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Lisa Anne Caporaso

Attwells undertook a simple, single-property conveyancing job for me during 2016. Having entrusted them to undertake the work in a professional manner, I was surprised and very disappointed to find that an HMRC follow-up initiated this year revealed that Attwells had miscalculated the Stamp Duty due on the transaction by £14,700 and had submitted an incorrect return to HMRC. Over this period, I completed a divorce settlement in ignorance of the fact that an additional £14,700 was due to HMRC. The result of Attwells error was to leave me £7,350 out of pocket. The firm has offered a token £500 in compensation for my loss, and implied that I should approach my now ex-wife for a share of the outstanding monies! I will be taking up the case with the Legal Ombudsman over the coming weeks. It would be hard to score them more than one star or to recommend them on the basis of my experience.

Used Attwells for my last house purchase. They provided a fully professional and friendly service always there when I needed them. The legal process was completed very smoothly without a hitch. I would certainly use them again and would highly recommend them.

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Stuart Milbourne

Amie Clarke has been absolutely brilliant from the house that fell through (51 Penguin Parade) and the house I’ve just exchanged on (129 Maigold Avenue). If it wasn’t for Amie’s professionalism, I would’ve wasted so much money! The first house, the sellers were pushing for us to continue without the title not being updated but Amie refused. I will forever be grateful for this because this saved me so much money due to the house actually falling through a couple weeks later due to the sellers not actually applying for the title change and then they decided to pull out. Amie is very quick to respond to my queries and keeps you to date as much as she can. The Attwells team overall have been amazing - whilst Amie has been on Annual Leave, other people have been stepping in to get back to my queries including Ellie Houghton and Lisa Caporaso helped me exchange. I most definitely will be recommending Attwells as there were no hidden fees, honest from the get go and handled so professionally. To be honest, very refreshing as solicitors do not exactly have the greatest name for responding back in a timely manner but the Attwells team absolutely blew me away with how quick they respond back to you. Thanks again!

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Amie Clarke

Compared to the original solicitors tasked with the lease extension, the service was exemplary. Everything was clearly communicated, regular updates provided, and if something needed further explanation it was very easy to actually speak to the solicitor dealing with the matter- who explained the situation without complicated legal language

Finally managed to achieve exchange and completion. Paralegal who worked on my conveyancing lacked knowledge about help to buy protocols and set up unrealistic targets for exchange which led to my buyers refusing to interact for 3 weeks whilst on holiday and resulted in me having to pay rent on new property and mortgage on my property in the same month. I had to borrow money to do this. Not very impressed!

Excellent, Our property sale was handled professionally and without delays. Our conveyancer responded swiftly to any queries we may have had..

professional and quick processing of re-mortgage. kept me informed of progress and items to be looked at