Trevor Jones
Not the best at conveyancing in our experience. It was the simplest of transactions - there was no ongoing chain, no mortgage, first time buyers. But it still took over 11 weeks to complete. The buyers solicitors pointed out that the form provided by Ettinger and Vickers for us to complete at the outset was obsolete, so we had to complete it all over again many weeks into the sale process. We had to drive things through pretty much from start to finish. They committed to provide weekly progress reports but we only heard from them when we approached them for an update. Our estate agents kept us better informed so we knew when our solicitor was dragging their feet. They didn’t seem to know what they were doing on some issues, see if you can make sense of this response when we queried the necessity for FENSA certificates when ‘glass only’ repairs were made. “If the glass alone has been replaced and the seal, the unit are the exact same, then no FENSA is required, if the glass within a sealed unit is replaced, or any of the seals, then FENSA is required.” The FENSA website lists any properties that have had certificates issued. We sent copies of these to them. We also sent information provided by FENSA explaining instances where we needed a structural guarantee. It’s clear that only replacement frames with or without glass require registration. That was all our work. The people are pleasant enough but we felt they just weren’t very competent.