Holden Smith Law Limited

The process began in May 19th and received notice of 'completion' on 29th July. While taking a little longer than expected were were reasonable happily and would have give a 3-4 star review. During this time Joe Furness from Holden Smith was not that forthcoming in his communication style and his phone manner was at time too 'relaxed'. We would have liked more efficient and regular updates and more energetic approach but I would have recommended Holden Smith especially considering their quote was on the lower end of the spectrum. That being said it appeared to be a very straight forward process of paying off a help-to-buy loan with cash savings. After 'completion' we would have assumed : 'no more to do'. However we were selling our house shortly after and that solicitor informed us there was no note on the Land Registry documents. We were starting to think the worst that we'd been scammed or something. We contacted Joe who said 'it was completed' just waiting on land registry and claimed that not his fault is the fault of land registry. Joe took over 2 weeks to reply to emails after which we called him and eventually got an answer in which he claimed it was down to HelptoBuy . After calling Help to Buy we found out Joe did not complete the 'DS1' form properly and seemed like pretty easy information to find out. This took a few days to sort and was eventually sorted , with Joe being more forthcoming (probably because we were so annoyed) . We would have not known about this error/oversight if it weren't for the other solicitor noting this. After all of this we eventually 'actually completed', having our account closed with Help to buy almost a month later. This could have been avoided had Joe not acted as previously mentioned. Because of this I will not be recommending Holden Smith and would not use them again. I sent them this email during the time and they never replied

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Joe Furness

We instructed Holden Smith (via SAM Conveyancing) for our property purchase and experienced a complete failure in basic service standards. As first-time buyers, we expected clear guidance, but were instead met with weeks of unanswered emails, vague updates, and a complete lack of urgency. Communication was so poor that the seller’s solicitor and estate agent had to contact us directly to get updates because our conveyancer was completely unresponsive. Updates routinely consisted of unannotated forwarded email chains without context, and crucial documents—like a Deed of Surrender—sat untouched for weeks, even while our handler went on leave with no active cover. We have been forced to submit a formal complaint and escalate to senior management just to get basic progress on our file. Avoid if you value transparency, efficiency, or responsive legal support.

A truly, truly frustrating experience with Abena Boateng. Communication has been extremely poor throughout this transaction and my questions and concerns were routinely dismissed. My offer was accepted six months ago and I still have no certainty as to when this purchase will complete. Months of delays and practically begging for updates that should have been provided proactively. The lack of clarity and communication has made this an unnecessarily stressful experience. I have now lodged a formal complaint with the Legal Ombudsman. Avoid this firm for your own sanity.

I found them very professional, knowledgeable and trustworthy.

Martin was very helpful and explained everything simply and completely.

In a house purchase process that already felt rather bewildering, I felt genuinely supported by the advice, efficiency and genuine diligence that I received from Tilly and Lucy (Denby Dale office). After the sale, I had the rapport with Tilly, who always offered a first class service, to ask some further questions about an immediate issue with the house. Again, she offered a very supportive, professional response. I have recommended Holden Smith Law to several friends and would absolutely return to them for any future legal matters. I am truly grateful to Tilly and Lucy for their help.

We had to transfer our home move to another conveyancer after approximately 4 months. Very little had been achieved by that point. We had to chase for updates and of the updates we did receive, two updates were totally inaccurate. Their communication breached their own terms in multiple ways, including data security. After being provided with incorrect updates, we requested details of enquiries made, the responses and the relevant email chain but this was ignored multiple times. We made a complaint and most of the points of complaint were ignored in the response. The lack of accountability and broken trust led us to switch conveyancers. After one month with our new conveyancer, more has been done than Holden Smith Law did in 4 months and communication has been far better than Holden Smith.

The worst experience with a solicitor I have ever had. 1. It took 7 different iterations of a Completion Statement before they got it correct, they even got the MORTGAGE AMOUNT wrong, which is the most important part so I don't know how you can mess that part up. 2. Despite zero chain by both buying and seller, took years to finalise, seller's solicitors were more responsive to me, Holden Smith would avoid my calls and only respond (sporadically) via email. 3. Took too long to determine BSA status and then charged a very high fee very late on in the day which was not featured in the original quote. Which was done on purpose so that I couldn't possibly pull out in time. 4. The main solicitor assigned took too much holiday and didn't tell the seller's solicitors so there were masses of emails sitting in their inbox with nothing being done on them, before initially being replaced by a different solicitor on my case, likely due to incompetence. 5. Took over a year extra following (supposed) completion to finalise property transfer between Holden Smith and the property management company because they did not get their finances correct and failed to disclose fees for the transfer by which time the service charges had been piling up as it had been so long. Had to raise an official complaint to get them to cover the fees and after arguments, had to raise it further so that they would agree. Overall a really poor experience and could not recommend them any lower.

The worst experience with a solicitor I have ever had. 1. It took 7 different iterations of a Completion Statement before they got it correct, they even got the MORTGAGE AMOUNT wrong, which is the most important part so I don't know how you can mess that part up. 2. Despite zero chain by both buying and seller, took years to finalise, seller's solicitors were more responsive to me, Holden Smith would avoid my calls and only respond (sporadically) via email. 3. Took too long to determine BSA status and then charged a very high fee very late on in the day which was not featured in the original quote. Which was done on purpose so that I couldn't possibly pull out in time. 4. The main solicitor assigned took too much holiday and didn't tell the seller's solicitors so there were masses of emails sitting in their inbox with nothing being done on them, before initially being replaced by a different solicitor on my case, likely due to incompetence. 5. Took over a year extra following (supposed) completion to finalise property transfer between Holden Smith and the property management company because they did not get their finances correct and failed to disclose fees for the transfer by which time the service charges had been piling up as it had been so long. Had to raise an official complaint to get them to cover the fees and after arguments, had to raise it further so that they would agree. Overall a really poor experience and could not recommend them any lower.

The worst experience with a solicitor I have ever had. 1. It took 7 different iterations of a Completion Statement before they got it correct, they even got the MORTGAGE AMOUNT wrong, which is the most important part so I don't know how you can mess that part up. 2. Despite zero chain by both buying and seller, took years to finalise, seller's solicitors were more responsive to me, Holden Smith would avoid my calls and only respond (sporadically) via email. 3. Took too long to determine BSA status and then charged a very high fee very late on in the day which was not featured in the original quote. Which was done on purpose so that I couldn't possibly pull out in time. 4. The main solicitor assigned took too much holiday and didn't tell the seller's solicitors so there were masses of emails sitting in their inbox with nothing being done on them, before initially being replaced by a different solicitor on my case, likely due to incompetence. 5. Took over a year extra following (supposed) completion to finalise property transfer between Holden Smith and the property management company because they did not get their finances correct and failed to disclose fees for the transfer by which time the service charges had been piling up as it had been so long. Had to raise an official complaint to get them to cover the fees and after arguments, had to raise it further so that they would agree. Overall a really poor experience and could not recommend them any lower.