CHARLES COLEMAN Reviews 75

Engaging this firm to assist with the purchase of a leasehold property turned out to be a profoundly disappointing experience that exposed serious shortcomings in their service quality. What began as a routine conveyancing process revealed critical oversights, culminating in significant stress, frustration, and ultimately the abandonment of the purchase.

Key Issues:
Lack of Transparency: One of the most alarming aspects of my experience was the lack of transparency regarding the nature of the transaction. Key details—such as the inclusion of a 50% share of the freehold, annual estate fees amounting to £2300, and the responsibility to act as the landlord for the entire building—were concealed by the vendor and the estate agent. Though these facts were revealed early in the process, my solicitor failed to communicate them to me, depriving me of the opportunity to make informed decisions.

Failure to Act in My Best Interest: Rather than consulting me about these critical details, the solicitor proceeded with the transaction, making agreements on my behalf. It was only one week before the scheduled completion date that I learned of these terms—information that drastically changed the nature of the purchase and forced me to withdraw. This lack of proactive engagement and communication demonstrated a concerning disregard for my best interests as a client.

Lacklustre Complaint Resolution: When I raised a formal complaint with the firm detailing my concerns (i.e. I was billed for 75% of the work + an abortive fee of 75% of the cost estimated), their response was deeply unsatisfactory. Rather than addressing the specific points of grievance, they padded their reply with irrelevant statements, downplayed their failings, and offered a superficial solution. In a brief acknowledgment, the solicitor admitted to omitting certain information regarding the legal title but trivialized the impact of this omission. As a token gesture, the firm offered a £500 goodwill reduction—a response that fell far short of addressing the gravity of the situation.

Conclusion: This experience has left me deeply disappointed and disillusioned with the firm’s conveyancing services. I expected my solicitor to act in my best interest, ensuring that I was thoroughly informed of all relevant details well in advance. Instead, their lack of transparency and accountability caused significant upheaval. This has not only made me question their competence but also undermined my trust in professional services as a whole. Based on my experience, I would not recommend this firm to others seeking conveyancing services.

My partner recently appointed Charles Coleman to represent him in the purchase of a leasehold/freehold apartment. The service he received was far from satisfactory. The solicitor did not fulfil their contractual obligations to him. There were no regular updates, they did not write in plain language which meant that we had to question most of the information provided, and she failed to include very significant terms relating to the purchase of the property. Her final report was incomplete and inaccurate, it omitted important details of the sale which ended up being the reasons my partner had to withdraw from the purchase. They then proceeded to invoice my partner not only for 75% of the work, but also an additional 75% abortive fee. This is unreasonable and unfair. Had the solicitor updated my partner on the 22nd March when she had this information, he would have withdrawn immediately and not incurred these charges. Instead, she chose to withold this very important information until a week before completion. She sent him all the documentation (32 documents ) in one day including her report of findings. This was a week before completion. Before this he was only provided with the basic usual searches. One week before completion, he was made aware of the fact that it was not only a leasehold property, but included 50% share of freehold, additional estate fees of £2300 per annum and the property came with the position of landlord for the entire building which has many responsibilities. The solicitor had all this information March 22nd but failed to update my partner. When she sent the information one month later (a week before completion) she still did not bring any of these details to our attention and stated in her report that it was a leasehold, omitting all if the other information. After we went through the documents, we discovered these additional terms and raised it with the solicitor. She simply replied 'yes, these things are correct'
Of course my partner did not want to go ahead with a purchase that included extra charges and responsibilities. When we filed a complaint to her supervisor, they took a while to respond, we had to chase them twice for an update. The response was unprofessional and bias. They defended the solicitor and took no responsibility for the mistakes made. Instead she padded out the email with irrelevant statements that had nothing to do with the points we raised. In one short sentence admitted that she had omitted some information regarding the legal title but downplayed this to make it look insignificant, when in fact this was a huge factor influencing the purchase. She said that out of goodwill they would offer a £500 reduction! This was quite an insult and inadequate seeing as my partner should have been notified as soon as the solicitor had this information in march. Also to say out of goodwill, when it was clear that the solicitor provided an inaccurate report, so it was nothing to do with goodwill. The decent and professional action to take would have been to charge my partner up until march when he should have received the update and had the opportunity to withdraw at that stage! This company lack experience, they do not provide a thorough and accurate service and their customer service needs improvement. Due to the lack of professionalism and customer care, we are now taking our complaint to the legal ombudsman. Do not use this firm if you require legal assistance in your property purchase. You are better off doing it yourself, which is what we ended up doing, due to the solicitors incompetency. We have now found a great solicitor who charge half the price of Charles Coleman and do not have these ridiculous abortive fees. Charles Coleman overcharge for a terrible service.

A difficult estate to tie up after the death of my father, with covid etc but they kept at it and it was all resolved. Recommended

Very helpful. I used them for some estate planning and was very impressed.

Was referred by inlays. Timely communication, quality service.

Always a pleasure to deal with. Helped me recently following my wifes passing and were considerate, professional and extremely fair with costs etc.

Highly recommend them

Shelli was very professional and completed the task perfectly.

Having dealt with Charles Coleman over many years, when my brother passed away it was appropriate to use their services again. This time we were looked after by Nathan and his team, Shelli and Parveen. Shelli and Parveen dealt with the different aspects of the case from Probate to House sale. And, as normal, with this company they were dealt with in a courteous, efficient and professional way and certainly helped us through what was a distressing time

Best experience of working with solicitors that I've ever had. They were really responsive, explained things very clearly and never tired of my endless questions and requests. Crucially, everything was executed very quickly and they did a great job of encouraging the buyer's solicitors to pick up the pace. The fees (house sale) represented great value for money - not something people often say about lawyers. Very impressed, I'd highly recommend Charles Colemman for property transactions (I have no experience of them in other areas).

Nathan Kapoor helped my dearest friend draw up his will. My friend was impressed with the way this was handled, the advice given and the time spent on what was not a simple situation. Sadly, my friend has recently died and since then I have had to turn to Nathan for help and advice . A huge thank you to him for his kindness and support and I will definitely recommend him to my friends. Pauline Humphries

John Humphreys has been a solid brick throughout our association with his firm. Clear, efficient and professional. In particular, he was a source of comfort in handling our affairs in the UK while we are resident abroad. Invaluable support.
Peter and Margaret Ledger

Dealing with the loss of a much loved parent is devastating, dealing with this loss during a global pandemic while living in another country is desperate and completely alienating. I am so grateful to Shailja Angras for her professionalism and compassion as she worked with our family to conclude our late mothers estate.
Shailja could not have been more invested or helpful. Thank you Shailja for answering all our questions and for guiding us as we managed this process, you will long be remembered for your dedication and kindness.

Great communication during the sale and purchase of our homes. Would highly recommend their services to anyone.

Just redone our wills with Kiran at Charles Coleman. Very professional, friendly, and helpful with all our questions. We have used them before and would definitely recommend.

On behalf of my sister & brother our heartfelt gratitude goes to Elizabeth & Shelli for their guidance, diligence & expertise throughout our Probate process.
Their perpetual support gave us strength through a difficult time - thank you.

Many thanks indeed to Nathan and Shelli for dealing with my Mum's EPA registration, and for getting this finalised quicker than expected. They were very supportive and helpful throughout.

I have used Charles Coleman LLP on a number of occasions and always been delighted with the work that was done and the service I received. My most recent dealings with them was the settlement of my late Father’s estate. This was handled by Elizabeth and her team and I will always be grateful to them for the not only super efficient but also friendly and compassionate way I was treated. Elizabeth went above and beyond in her efforts on my behalf and I would not hesitate for one moment to recommend her to anyone on both a professional and personal level. Thank you so much Elizabeth, Shailja and all at Charles Coleman, you made a real difference during an unbearable time and I will always be grateful.

We used Charles Coleman for a house sale - not the most straightforward one. We were allocated Nathan Kapoor as our solicitor - he was brilliant. Nathan was pragmatic and on top of the whole process throughout, resulting in the sale being completed very smoothly and quickly.
We had one face to face Covid compliant meeting - everything else was done electronically or signing documents in the open air! The admin staff were clearly under a lot of pressure and sometimes needed a prompt.
We would definitely use again.

We were well informed at all steps. Delay was always from our end. We are happy with them. Thanks to our Accountant who referred us to them.

Great service and a very reasonable bill at the end of it all. I can recommend Guy Barlow if you need a divorce and Louise Wall for conveyancing. Top notch service.