Spencer Lockwood Solicitors Reviews 

I would like to take this opportunity to say a great THANK YOU to all at Spencer Lockwood Solicitors for all your hard work regarding the purchase of my house.
A special thanks to Brook Illing, who personally guided me through all the procedures step by step and on whose support I could always count. Mr Illing kept me updated throughout the proceedings and made me aware about deadlines and all formalities. He was incredibly helpful, promptly answering questions and being available by phone all the time.
Thank you so much once more!

Overall very good experience, completed a tricky purchace in a limited time frame due to auction constraints on time and on budget, only small criticism is occasionally slow to update what's going on.

I would thoroughly recommend for friendliness, expedience and value for money! Maria Trantie dealt with my case and I couldn't have asked for more. The sale was delayed due to systems issues with the buyers solicitors and then general tardiness but Maria continuously chased them and updated me so that we could push for the next stages whenever the other side decided to participate in the transaction!

I had a tremendous experience with Spencer Lockwood Conveyancing. Our case handler was Monika, who did a great job supporting us from day one; she was always responsive, to the point and informative. She was empathetic and kind, as well as a great professional throughout the purchase of our first flat.
It is highly recommended!

Company uses third-party to quote, giving wrong info on mortgage lender panel they are on, leading me to instructing them and charging me file opening fee. Even when I was assigned a solicitor, I tried to confirm with them again if they are actually on the mortgage lender panel. The solicitor told me they are but in fact they are not. Only when my mortgage lender told me they are not, I went back to confirm then they admitted they are not on the panel. The file opener told me my fee will be refunded but i kept waiting but nothing came through. I called back to chase but there was no response or call back. Please consider using them if you don't want to lose your money and time. In addition solicitors take a week to respond to my questions which I think are simple ones.

Monika was outstanding to work with in the process of selling my property. It was important for me to conduct an initial face to face meeting and I instantly felt comfortable and assured by Monika's calm, engaging, professional and efficient manner. I would definitely recommend Monika to family and friends. For me, Monika is the face of Spencer Lockwood.

Brook Illing was assigned to our case, and here is our experience.

COMMUNICATION - zero stars
Expectation: Aim listed on their website - "48 hour responses to emails from you and the other side"
Reality: My 1st email requesting for an update was totally ignored. 12 days and 6 emails later (plus several other emails from agents & buyer's solicitors) - still no response, at that point, a complaint was made. Unfortunately, things remained the same after that, Brook still chose to IGNORE most of my emails throughout the entire process.

PROFESSIONALISM / ATTITUDE - zero stars
Expectation: Trustworthy, respectful & efficient
Reality: Indifferent, inefficient (multiple errors on my paperwork) & non-responsive. Brook worked at a snail-like pace, totally non-responsive to emails and non-engaged. We submitted a complaint to the company director, who we felt went on defensive mode, took my words out of context and said we accused his solicitor of things that did not even make sense.

Our experience has been an absolute nightmare and extremely stressful, if it wasn't for our financial advisor and the buyer's agent, we would probably still be waiting in the dark. So unless you have the time, patience and mental strength to deal with non-existing communication, unprofessionalism and incompetency, avoid this firm at all cost for your own sanity.

From start to finish my experience with Spencer Lockwood has been amazing!
My case was not an easy one and was handled with care and tact. Emad Sadiq was there every step of the way.
He managed my expectations and provided insightful advice.

Thanks to Emad my mortgage experience felt like a walk in the park I was guided and looked after throughout the entire journey.

Thank you again for your efforts and care !

Would definitely recommend them !

I dealt with Spencer Lockwood for a sale on my property and my associate was Ria Lakhani, she is fantastic and attentive and patient, I was not the most chilled client and she kept composed and in control and made me feel in safe hands an asset to any business.

Overall Ria was helpful and just today I received confirmation that my property has been registered with the land registry. I would recommend Spencer Lockwood but would advise confirming all fees payable at the outset as extra charges can crop up if too much time is spent on your file, which was only communicated to me late in the process.

I had a terrible experience with Spencer Lockwood. Slow responses, unhelpful, argumentative. I pulled out of my property purchase largely because of how awful they were.

I'm not really sure where to start except to say that Spencer Lockwood is the most atrocious law firm I have ever dealt with in my personal experience and opinion, and I have dealt with a few!

I needed a conveyancing solicitor to support with purchase of a leasehold flat in London, and I found Spencer Lockwood through Money Supermarket's recommendation.

Issue 1: Spencer Lockwood's work was riddled with critical legal and factual errors which would have caused significant problems for me down the track had I not picked them up. The errors were most starkly demonstrated in the 'report on title' pack that Spencer Lockwood provided me with. These include but are not limited to:
- incorrect deposit amount stated (notwithstanding Spencer Lockwood had in its possession my full mortgage documentation)
- incorrect stamp duty information (notwithstanding Spencer Lockwood had in its possession the correct figures from the outset)
- contradictory information with respect to building insurance and service charges
- Spencer Lockwood attached the forfeiture indemnity insurance quote provided by the seller's solicitor and had clearly not even taken the time to review it before passing it on - the policy would have been invalid as the ground rent on the property I was looking to purchase contradicted a key condition clearly stipulated in the policy.

Issue 2: Spencer Lockwood's general written communication was often poor - at times unclear, containing factual/grammatical/typographical errors that led to lack of clarity, and emails that contained information contradictory to previous correspondence.

Issue 3: the customer service provided by Spencer Lockwood was at times poor and incredibly rude and dismissive (including being incredibly rudely spoken to over the phone). The above issues (among others) created by Spencer Lockwood meant that I had to communicate with them via email more than I would have liked. However, on average, email correspondence was only sent every 4 days or so which is hardly excessive. However, when I raised concerns with Spencer Lockwood as to the general quality of service and errors that had been made (and raised my concerns with Optimus, the company that manages conveyancers on behalf of Money Supermarket), Spencer Lockwood alleged that the correspondence on my file had "surpassed what would be considered standard" and they would be charging an additional hourly rate for further correspondence. This was an absurd allegation for a multitude of reasons, and appeared to largely be a cynical attempt to dodge responsibility for mistakes they made, shift the blame, and seek further fees over and above the fixed price contract. They even refused to respond to the seller's solicitor's emails unless I agreed to pay an hourly rate for future work on the file. It wasn't until I discussed with Optimus pulling my file from Spencer Lockwood that the firm backed down (somewhat).

What is quite striking is how much the other 1 star reviews of this firm resonate with me, and echo my personal experience. At a bare minimum, Spencer Lockwood gives the impression of being a 'conveyor belt firm' that seeks to simply churn through property transactions en masse without paying proper attention to detail and provide appropriate levels of customer service. It also struck me as bizarre that the director managing the conveyancers appeared not to have a law degree themselves (whilst this isn't to my knowledge a legal requirement with respect UK property conveyancing, it's still something I would still have expected). Overall, dealing with this firm and feeling like I needed to comb through every single minute detail of the process to ensure I was being advised correctly and provided with accurate information created a huge amount of stress on top of what is already a stressful process. I ultimately backed out of the sale primarily due to a combination of property condition concerns and troublesome lease clauses the seller didn't satisfactorily rectify. However, it was a massive relief to no longer need to deal with this firm. Spencer Lockwood is one to avoid in my view.

Spencer Lockwood came highly recommended and they did not disappoint. My case handler was Monica and what a true professional.
The process was trying at times to say the least but with her determination and professionalism she got it all done in a timely manner.
I would like to personally thank Monica for her commitment to me and my case. I would recommend Spencer Lockwood any day especially if Monica was handling your case.
Danny St

The sale ended up being rather complex however Demisha worked extremely hard, kept me upto speed and pulled it all together despite great challenges.
The sale took a long time but this was down to factors not related to Demisha and the team.
I would use the company again.

Our first experiences with Spencer Lockwood weren’t the best, being passed around 3 conveyancers and not getting the service we expected. The five stars are all for Monika though - as soon as she was passed the case she threw herself into it, and we could not fault her performance at all. A very pleasant, friendly professional whose communication skills are top notch and who made us feel 100% supported. She got us over the line on a very complicated transaction. We cannot praise her enough.

I have just completed on my first house. Maria Trantie has made it so easy during what people call such a stressful time. There has been stressful moments, but Maria Trantie worked thru it with me. And we she has made my dream come true! Thank you soo much for your help, all before xmas!!
Highly recommend Spencer Lockwood Conveyancing, and must work with Maria Trantie!

The whole process of remortgaging our property was made so smooth by Emad. Would definitely recommend!

My partner and I were first time buyers with limited knowledge of conveyancing or purchasing a home. We chose Spencer Lockwood due to the positive reviews and because we were bound by a tight deadline. Ria and Monika were incredibly helpful; explaining the steps and expediting each process so we completed in less than four months. There were a few hiccups but they were all solved very quickly with timely communication.

My partner and I were in our new home with plenty of time before Christmas.

Very good service. Sale completed well. We were only allowed one telephone call per day but found we didn't need to always use them.

Stay away from Spencer Lockwood Solicitors and BI. A mortgage broker recommended them to the buyer who did not check the reviews. 17% of customers gave 1 star. I bought the house in 3 months and it took 6 months to sell it. They kept on ignoring my solicitors emails and sent emails after a long time. Even though I have lived in my house for 22 years never paid service charge they assumed in the future the buyer might have to pay old service charges. I told my estate agent and the buyer to ask my neighbours in my road and phone the council for confirmation that there will not be any backdated service charge. This all took a month and £500 service charge retention was paid by me for 2 years. My solicitor kept on chasing for an exchange and completion date. Then BI woke up and took one month to check his clients money laundering, find out where he received his deposit, then started doing my solicitors check and asking personal questions.

Stay away from this firm !!! Even my solicitor complained to them saying this should have been completed 2 months ago. For a 36 day delay I have lost £5,000 (it was high mortgages interest after fixed rate ended). The buyer was aware of this, I had been telling him to chase his solicitor many times.

When selling your house check the buyers solicitor and if bad reviews don’t sell until the buyer finds a good solicitor.