Swinburne Maddison LLP

We originally used Swinburne when buying a new build property 10+ years ago, and looking back I think that was probably a mistake to trust a builder... however, they where amazing. I've caught them in the news regularly increasing in size and with my current move we thought we try them again. Absolutely flawless. They are quick, attentive and very friendly. I have never have any issues getting answers and I'm assigned a dedicated solicitor.

Can't rate them highly enough. We sold a house with another company a few years ago and it was terrible, never again. Swinburne from here on in. They are usually near the cheapest prices as well on comparison sites.

Very unhappy with the way they handled the purchase of my new property, I was advised to use this Company by JW Wood (Chester le Street - Consett - Stanley) as they said it would be a lot quicker as they work hand in hand with them no time delay, as I was new to them I took there advice and enlisted this company to look after me. Big Mistake we signed the paperwork and awaited them to contact us waited 6 weeks and no action, so we called them asking what the problem was, they advised searches were taking time. This I can live with but then we were called to the office to complete the exchange of contract and agreed a date all done so we thought only to get a call the following day advising the date to be moved by 1 week later than agreed, I was not happy and instructed the sale to be cancelled as we had already done as they asked and agreed the date and paid the 10% deposit as requested to set in stone, after Speaking with David Canwell he actually said the contract was not legal at this point as the dates had not been agreed on both sides. Caption from his email: Dear Sharon,

As discussed, I attach a copy of your account and completion statement, to enable you to transfer funds to me, in advance of completion on 15th November 2019.

In order to exchange contracts, the point at which the contract becomes legally binding, I require you to transfer to me the deposit monies, in the sum of £ that is, 10% of the purchase price.

Please let me know if you have any queries regarding this email.

Regards
David

He then added If I wish to drop out then no problem and he would refund the deposit, I agreed on this and 15 minutes later called me back advising the date originally set was good to go if I still wanted to go ahead. I Agreed to go with it. Back on track again.
I must say during this whole procedure I have sent numerus emails to him and only replied back to 1 email the level of customer care is very disappointing indeed alongside JW Wood (Chester le Street - Consett - Stanley) also very disappointed in them to as they seemed very unhelpful when we called for updates. Its took over 3 month for a cash sale to complete with no problems on both my side and the sellers side.
I highly recommend you find a company who actually cares about their clients
I don’t leave negative feedback unless I think I got a bad deal.

This is a firm I used for many years with excellent service. I went back this year only to be given wrong advice. When I questioned them they withdrew from the case billing me for the pleasure. When I asked for a meeting with the partners they sent the account to debt collection and added fees for that. Still waiting for resolution.

If I could give 0 stars I would , NEVER AGAIN will I use this firm. If the lender insisted on me using them I would rather lose the deal , a total shambles. If it wasn't for an associate of theirs stepping I would still be waiting . Don't know how certain people have a 'solicitors' title

Brilliant 👏🏽 absolutely genuine and wonderful people highly recommend have been amazing due to be misled I have the utmost faith and trust in this gentleman who has gone above and beyond not only professional but as a human being I would highly highly recommend this firm how truly wonderful they are they know there stuff they care and they support you I just can't thank them enough for what they have done for us...if I could give a million stars I would
Instruct them best solicitors in uk 🇬🇧 never Mind county durham
Absolutely thrilled with them

Stay away from this company...

All seemed well at first, I was happy with the first guy I spoke to and explained what I required. I then spoke to the solicitor acting on my behalf, she seemed nice, quoted me £500 +VAT to carry out my matter... things went down hill very quickly from here.

I then shortly after this I received a bill for £720 to be paid immediately before further negotiations where to be carried out for a further £500 +VAT... this was for 1 phone call, 2 letters and a handful of emails.

After asking for clarification as to why our agreed quote has suddenly (and unexpectedly) had incised dramatically I was responded with "The fee estimate is an estimate only not a fixed fee for this work." I was then shocked to be demanded £720 to be paid now before they will then close my file... 2 weeks before Christmas, and without making any progress in my case, in fact my case is in a worse situation now than it was before i hired Swinburne Maddison to "Help" me.

Stay away from these guys, shady to say the least.

I would not use these. They done deal with anything quick. My grandaughter has been waiting 6 montg for the rest if her money for a sale of a house which got sold in February. Absolutely shocking.. got a lump sum in May and still waiting for the rest of the payment. Very unresponsive and unreliable a s a law fire. 30 grand is a lot of money to hold on to. Just because they waiting for a gas firm to get back to them. This has taken 3 months for them to sort it. But still not sorted.. how and who is getting the interest on all this money. Think it might have to take it further.

The firm was a huge support during a potentially very tricky sale and purchase, keeping us fully updated and managing the expectations of all parties in the chain as matters progressed. Thank you!