J B Leitch Reviews 166

Giving them 1 star because 0 stars don’t exist. Totally unprofessional, rude, uncommunicative. WHAT IS THE LAW SOCIETY DOING ABOUT THIS ASSOCIATE TO THEIR GOOD NAME???

This firm of solicitors are trying to rob me of thousands of pounds. They should all be in jail.

If I had the option of giving 0 stars then I would have done so. I have a property where the roof was leaking and the management company refused to fix it even though it was part of the lease agreement. My tenant was suffering and they were expecting their first baby and quite frankly were living in appalling conditions. In the end I held out on the service charge and they did the bare minimum fix and I told them to fix it properly - next thing I know I was dealing with these guys trying to recover this debt. Their quality of people is truly shocking... I was dealing with Olivia Taylor who doesn't seem to grasp English very well. In the end I gave up and wanted to make payments but I had a banking issue where I could only pay 750GBP per day - I offered to do daily payments until the debt was cleared and got no response. After 11 working days she says she cannot accept daily payments but I had plenty of time to gather the money to make the full payment by now... she didn't grasp the fact that I had a banking challenge! In the end she threatened to take legal action and given the stress it caused, I was forced to use another bank account (not property related) to settle this. Companies like these being able to do business is one of the main reasons why I am so downbeat about the future of the UK. Minimum standards have to be in place in order to employ people or exist as a business.... I hope to never deal with these "people" again

Absolutely useless 'solicitors' based in Merseyside. Upon finding out I had an overdue service charge upon returning from being out of the country I immediately looked to pay it. They claim they emailed me a breakdown which never came through after even after chasing multiple times. Eventually I opted to pay via phone which also they were unable to accomodate as I kept getting cut off. After my fourth call over several hours they sent another email and I ensured them I wouldn't let them disconnect until I receive it - like magic that email came through immediately almost as if they never sent the first email they claimed to send. At no point could any of these dippers provide any value or exercise basic manners

Obviously it's not a big surprise that these guys haven't got a high rating on here - it's not easy getting money off people that don't want to pay or aren't in a position to pay, when ultimately their clients are paying them to recover money.

My poor experiece though is because of their process rather than them having to collect the cash.

My father slipped into arrears on his ground rent because he had dementia, and it took a while for me to get power of attorney and get a grib on all of his financial affairs.

As soon as a realised the balance was outstanding, I paid this in full to JB Leach, wanting to settle the account ASAP so I can sell the property. However, they're now messing me around, saying they're making me wait over 2 weeks for them to take the account out of breach (hopefully the buyer doesnt pull out because of further delays).

What they need to do better i would suggest - is once they get the cash in, apply some flexibility and common sense and provide some sort of positive customer experience

Absolutely disgusting company. They work with FirstPort Property Management company and that says it all.
You are mistreated my FirstPort and this disgusting company finishes of the mistreated treatment.
Karma is a real thing@

After receiving communication over 6 months ago, for late service charges, I replied advising, my Mum had sadly passed away, I had no response. I cleared any arrears to RMG. I received an email from J B Leitch, 6 months after my original email. It was aggressive, no empathy, and even though clearing arrears, they are demanding money from me. I have clearly stated, and having checked if arrears are paid, they have no legal authority to chase me. Leave me alone, your aggressiveness, and threats are being escalated. The most awful people I have ever had to deal with. How do you enjoy your job?

JB Leitch demanded £600 in legal and admin fees for alleged service charge arrears — even though my lease contains no clause that allows recovery of such charges. They wrote the original lease, so they knew this from the outset.

When I challenged the demand, JB Leitch stated that my lease did permit recovery of legal costs — a claim that was entirely false and contrary to established law. As a solicitor firm, they are fully aware that multiple rulings from the Court of Appeal, the Upper Tribunal, and the First-tier Tribunal confirm legal costs cannot be passed to leaseholders unless the lease includes specific, unambiguous wording. General references to services or management do not qualify.

Instead of addressing this, they threatened to escalate the matter and contact my mortgage provider if I didn’t pay within 7 days. I received no explanation, no legal justification — just pressure. I ultimately paid under protest and under duress, out of fear of further financial and reputational harm.

This was not a misunderstanding — it was a solicitor firm knowingly misrepresenting the law to extract payment from someone who had no legal obligation to pay. That is not lawful, and it is certainly not ethical.

Avoid JB Leitch at all costs. Their conduct is aggressive, dishonest, and shows complete disregard for the law and leaseholder rights. If you see their name on any correspondence, treat it as a red flag.

I, too, have had the absolute displeasure of dealing with this “law firm”. Similar to many other comments - delayed letters, unrealistic timescales, high charges (without any supporting information), incorrect information, heavy threats of forcing entry to property, possession and escalating costs. My lawyer has also advised me that their use of the Law and Property Act 1925 is not relevant in my case - am not sure if this is included in the letter to sound more threatening, or perhaps they’re not so great at law?

In my case, it turns out that their initial letter was for a debt that didn’t exist on a property that I didn’t own at the time. So, my advice is to really look at what they’re stating as fact and challenge whether they’re correct and even have a legal right to be demanding money.

I’d love to see something done about these questionable practices. I am following up a few avenues and if you have been treated badly then I’d really encourage you to do the same, otherwise these guys will just keep going in the same way.

I note that this firm has been specifically called out by MP Justin Madders in Parliament in 2020 - yet little seems to have been done to protect people. I have submitted a formal complaint to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) as well as contacting our local MP and Councillor. Am also contacting JB Leitch’s client directly to complain of the erroneous and bullying correspondence (they’re not very nice on the phone either). And don’t forget LinkedIn - the management team appear on their website, and I’m sure they’d love to hear from you on a public forum like that. Good luck.

The misfortune of being in contact with JB Leitch is top 3 worst experiences of my life. This firm has put me through hell and back.

I fell into arrears after FirstPort failed to set up my account for almost a year, ignoring multiple requests for account access and leaving me unable to pay. When they finally responded, they sent a hefty backdated bill with no warning and were quick to instruct JB Leitch to pursue the debt.

JB Leitch’s very first communication included nearly £1,000 in fees. They escalated charges rapidly and senselessly eg adding a £195 fee just for requesting a password reset to access my blocked account. I couldn’t even pay my service charge if I wanted to—and I did want to.

Their colleagues were rude and combative on the phone. Eventually, I gave up calling and stuck to email just so I could somewhat be spoken to like a human being. I was financially bullied, and emotionally overwhelmed. The anxiety and stress caused by JB Leitch affected my mental health. I was trying to pay what I owed and move forward, they made that impossible. They rejected every payment plan offered through a debt charity.

Once they were satisfied with fees added, they pushed me to ask my mortgage provider to take on the debt. I did so because JB Leitch gave me no other managable route to resolve the debt.

This is not a one-off. They have 98% one-star reviews, and their conduct has been raised in Parliament. Their business model is built on rejecting repayment plans, holding onto the debt to escalate it with fees, and ultimately recovering a far higher amount than what was originally owed. This is unconscionable conduct and predatory debt recovery.

I otherwise love my flat but im considering moving just to get away from FirstPort and their solicitor of choice, JB Leitch.

Worst debt collecting agent ever!
We had pay the late penalty to First Port and admin charge to JB Leitch, as they didn’t accept our monthly repayment. The charges are outrages and has kept threatening us about further penalties. This is extremely disgraceful with this firm + First Port. Please avoid them at any costs. What a shame!

I had the unfortunate experience of having to deal with these cowboys for service charge arrears.

I can honestly say that they are nothing more than glorified debt collectors who use aggression and delay tactics to chase payments ASAP and threaten CCJs. They couldn't even explain my debt and the additional charges to me despite several responses, this is all part of their tactics to get the money faster and bill for more costs/charges.

They need to be reported to the SRA, that's if they are even a registered law firm.

An awful company.
Rude, aggressive and very unhelpful.
No advice

Rude and aggressive

This company are rude and aggressive even when you pay the bill that they are trying extort from you, they send no confirmation invoice or receipt. They are the worst company I have ever had to deal with. please avoid and put them out of business. we should be treat in this way

Shocking for a solicitor to behave in this way. These solicitors are rude, aggressive and threatening, offering no advice, help and or customer/client care. Appear to be much like Gladstone Solicitors - scammers who work to grab money off people.

Dreadful experience so far. Six years dealing with my Dads probate. No answers to emails, fobs off with Covid excuses blaming tax office for delays, shouldn’t Evan be paying tax on such small amount. Just confirmed my suspicions reading other reviews. Will complain. Such a bitter blow to my beautiful Fathers memory he worked very hard and with honesty for what he had. Now seems to be in the hands of the greedy.

Report JB LEITCH to the SRA. Solicitors Regulation Authority as they are committing numerous violations as well as professional negligence. They are working for a client HAUS block management who collect service charges, yet they did not make any attempt nor did their client HAUS make any attempt to find out that the Managing Agent of the flat had changed nor any email or letter to the landlords home address, yet they manage to send a demand for non payment to the landlord funnily enough. They seem more like a debt collection agency.

Extortion Racket - Unjustifiable compounding of charges and daylight robbery and extortion. Don’t quite understand with such blatantly poor reviews - how is this firm still operating?? Old bullying tactics - can TrustPilot not help?

If there’s any solicitors to avoid is this one
Absolute trash -They have made my anxiety go from 0-100 I had to visit my doctorr.

They are unprofessional,rude with very bad communication and what makes it worse is that they work alongside Trinity Estate Management which concludes to Evil and Evil

Stay clear and do not use !!!

Terrible company to hire for service. Awful client management.