Singing Pig

To all bmv'ers,

Ive been in the business for a while now, and without doubt my weakest link are solicitors. Ive tried numerous ones, ranging from local ones that i used before on normal purchases & others that have been "recommeded" by other investors.

Ive had problems with each of my deals. They seem all not to be proactive, understand that speed is the key (although they say they know about bmv deal process) Ive had a case when on completion day one set announce that they are missing vital paperwork (which they knew about weeks before. Also had a case were the solicitors advised my clients not to do the deal! (still managed to get it tho phew!)

All my deals have taken longer than 4 weeks. Fortuately my clients have been ok, but i know one day soon its going to cause problems.

Would you be able to recomend solicitors which have proven to be good. If the same names come up i think we can get a decent set, which may be useful to all of us.

Thanks in anticipation.

I think the problem you probably have is that for the amount of money you are spending on legal fees the only way to make money is for the firm to have lots of cases. If you are paying commercial rates rather than residential ones then you should be getting things done as speedily as possible.

Hi everyidhasgone.

I have used a Solicitor who deals predominantly with BMV Investor Clients. He was working in London until recently and has moved to Birmingham and gone into partnership in a firm called Calthorpe Solicitors.  I know him through Andy Shaw and Ajay Ahuja who have used him or recommended him as speaking the Investors language.

You can contact him on 0121 452 4955 and his name is Yusuf Loonat.  He is not cheap but at the same time not overly dear and he is good value for money.  He has helped me on general advice on legal and mortgage issues surrounding BMV properties using bridge finance purchase with same day remortgages to release equity in BMV properties.

But the most appealing thing is he turns the purchases around in a quick time.  One slight problem (sometimes) is that he can on rare occassions be hard to get hold of but I must admit he has always returned my calls.

Call him to discuss your requirements and set fees before you decide whether to instruct or not.

All the best.

Bob Burrage

i have recently used several different solicitors for different projects  - not one passed the "efficiency" test.  One sent me two sets of T&Cs noting that i was buying a property for £11k  (i wish !!!!) and then charging me totally different fees to those on the T&Cs; another had to be asked 4 times to send me a photocopy of the old mortgage lender's redemption statement; another sent me a form to complete as to whether i wanted to completed the SDLT form myself (I ticked yes) and then I got a very frosty reception when i asked for a reduction in fees as they had filled it in and wanted to charge me !  My original solicitor (who i still use now and again) was always sending me letters to explain what was happening - he cost a fair bit more, but, i felt "looked after".

What i call "bucket shop" solicitors who only act for the lender generally only send you two letters -   1)  hello client sign this and  2)  we've completed  - sign this and now send us money -  cheerio.

i think its like anything else in life  - you get what you pay for.  

Im having trouble finding a good solicitor too, damn pain!

They're all cr*p.  Even the ones recommended by the most prominent members in this forum. 

The only way to ensure you get what you want is to be the loudest shouter - I've had to leave 4 emails and 4 voicemails in one day before I had a call back.  In my book there is no such excuse as "We've been so busy" - they should not take your instruction if they can't do the work in the timescale required.

Annoyed

Rob

(Lost about £650 last month due to to solicitors not completing in June, so now have to pay another months mortgage payment)

Try using just-lawyers.com in future - I would highly recommend them! Your whole case is online - you get text messages with updates on your case and a very good old fashioned friendly service as well!

Try using just-lawyers.com in future - I would highly recommend them! Your whole case is online - you get text messages with updates on your case and a very good old fashioned friendly service as well! Their phone number is on the website and I also had a mobile number 0780 248 2480! They we fantastic.