Harrowells Solicitors - York

PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS SOLICITOR YOU DESERVE BETTER. I instructed harrowells to complete on my recent accepted offer on my dream home, I provided all documents requested on the first day and all subsequent documents requested on the same day the requests were made, after 6+ weeks from this date they have not completed any of the legal work on my case (not begun searches). They told me this was due to them completing anti money laundering checks. I have sent over 6 emails in this time asking for updates and to understand timescales and what is happening and always told ‘we have everything we need and are reviewing documents and will get back to you’. Estate agents for sellers contacted me to raise concerns around the time this has taken and I fed this back to my solicitor and there was no understanding and just told we will contact you when we need something. Took the estate agents telling me the seller would be pulling out due to non movement and that 6 weeks to verify the income is unheard of for a standard purchase, for me to request to speak with Debbie who is the senior manager on my purchase, at this point I just wanted to speak to someone to understand what was happening and have some assurance that my purchase would be managed with competency. I called and was told that she was not in the office but would call me back in the afternoon, I called again late afternoon and was told Debbie wasn’t in the office today and was in a meeting so couldn’t call me, I explained the situation again and asked to speak to someone who could give me some understanding and assurances of what was happening, was told Debbie would call me back first thing in the morning, this again didn’t happen, I left voicemails for her and messages with front of house team, after three days of calling to try and speak to someone about my case, I finally de-instructed them (Debbie wasn’t available so needed to do this with reception who said Debbie needed to confirm this so would review and be in touch and see if my deposit will be refunded to me). My solicitor Cressie unfortunately had unexpected leave from work in the last week and while I understand that these things can happen, the way it was handled was appalling, there was over 5 weeks with no movement (or update if something had happened, although estate agent and solicitor for seller has said nothing has taken place) on my case while my solicitor was in work, very low levels of engagement and explanation for delays and what was happening, no explanation that my solicitor was not in work for the final week, no reallocation to a new solicitor, no availability to speak with senior responsible for purchase. I was only told this after sending an email begging for some understanding as the sellers wanted to pull out and this came from another worker and not Debbie. In general very poor communication and service and ultimately have wasted a lot of time and potentially money if they don’t refund me. If anyone from Harrowells sees this, I please ask for you to learn from this experience and improve the communication and empathy with customers who are paying a lot of money for you to support with one of the biggest moments in many people’s lives. The issue hasn’t been around my solicitor being off work unexpectedly for a week, it’s been about it being impossible to speak to someone about my case, never having updates and no urgency about progressing my purchase. None of this process has felt you’ve been open or transparent and it’s felt like there have been underlying issues in the background that haven’t been communicated to me (staff absence being one example). Ultimately you have lost the value of this sale and risked my purchase and it really isn’t okay to put people in that position when they have done everything you have asked of them in a very timely manner. I understand that not everyone has this experience of you but for me it has been a very stressful and difficult time.

My mum and I couldn't be more pleased with the service we have received. My mum wanted a discretionary trust to protect her personal injury settlement as she is vulnerable, in addition to a few other reasons. Ed Taylor got back to our request straight away and as soon as we spoke to him on the phone we immediately felt comfortable, he reassured my mum regarding a few things and then from there we knew it was the right choice to go with Harrowells. Initially we must've spoken to about 40 different firms and that is no exaggeration. They either took too long to reply, quoted us a ridiculously high fixed fee or just came across really difficult in general, it just didn't feel right. Before calling Harrowells I had a look at their reviews and I was a little hesitant as they're not all 4-5 stars, but sometimes you just have to see for yourself, make an enquiry and if it feels good - go with it. We have no complaints whatsoever, Ed advised my mum every step of the way to the best of his expertise but without being forceful, he struck the perfect balance between advising and following her wishes and that is precisely what a great solicitor does. In the end he delivered exactly what she required, we couldn't be more satisfied.

Our family used Harrowells in york for child proceedings. During the time we had 3 different solicitors as people left. We also felt that we were constantly having to suggest things and research things rather than being adequately led by the solicitors during a complicated legal proceedure. Without the help of a different solicitor pro bono we wouldnt have been able to finish our case. They did however communicate well with barristers in a different area for us which was very good. We also felt that despite spending a huge amount 70k and getting a good result that the solicitors were not always helpful with helping us with managing our costs. At several times during the proceedings we were told unless we paid the bill which could often be 8k in 1 month that they were not going to do any more work for us. We felt this unfair amd hard considering we paid as much as we could every month sometimes up to 4k monthly. If money was ever mentioned by us their immediate response was we can stop if you would like to transfer the case elsewhere or seek legal aid. How do they expect normal people to manage these things. Laterly they then said that they were going to add interest onto the remaining amount which would further add to a stressful time and put the family further in debt. I understand that they are due their money however thought this could have been done with more sensitivity. Especialy considering no one expected the case to be as expensive as it turned out to be. My advise would be to discuss this prior to using them. The price of legal representation is appauling.

I am very grateful to Harrowells, especially so Mr Black, he was professional, honest, knowledgeable and very reliable. He helped me with a home sale, and the results were better than I hoped, because of the effort he put in. I am very happy with the cost, and the service I received from this company. I entirely recommend them, have trust in knowing they will do the best they can for their clients. Many thanks.

Avoid Avoid Avoid!!! Completely dishonest practice from Matthew Hayward. Do not buy any commercial property linked to Matthew Hayward unless you want to spend thousands on a solicitor for no reason. Very smug on the phone when confronted with his dishonesty and just quips ‘well thats where we are at’ . Took the sale all the way to authorising signatures only to find he doesn't have the authority to sell only to be passed over to the auctioneer where ultimately the sale fell through. Wasted one week and £900 with Matthew for nothing when he should have passed me over to the auctioneer from the start. Very unprofessional and rather rude seems to think he can act with impunity as he is covered by the law.

Appalling service from the commercial property department - used to be one of the city’s leading legal firms. Don’t answer emails & finally after 8 months I went elsewhere (thank you to CSK for such a prompt service & answering emails!). To be honest, I came to the conclusion that Harrowells only want to act for the big players with deep pockets - if that’s the case, I’d rather they had said that in the first place. Unfortunately Harrowells have now lost out on acting for me on the sale of 3 new build houses I am currently building and the purchase of development land that I’m currently looking at.

Absolutely brilliant work Rebecca Jennings helped me purchase the building for the business and I can’t recommend Harrowells solicitors enough . Very swift in responding, very informative and supportive. If I could give 6 out of five I would!