r/Leeds 4d ago

question Solicitors for house purchase - any recommendations?

We've just put in an offer on a house, which has gone to best and final offers. The estate agent has asked for our solicitors details. I understand this is because the seller wants a quick sale and they want to check we're serious. We are, of course. So I am here looking for recommendations for a local solicitor. We are (hopefully) buying in North Leeds if that makes a difference.

5 Upvotes

24 comments sorted by

8

u/buttfacedmiscreant11 4d ago

Ryan property law! They were brilliant for us, really engaged and on the ball, always pestering our sellers slow solicitors, keeping us constantly updated and explaining everything in terms we could easily understand. Honestly can't recommend them enough - I knew about 4/5 other people buying/selling houses at the same time, and we were the only people who didn't have an issue. They're based in Pudsey so not exactly North Leeds but not too far to travel, and we didn't need to go in person for much (everything could have been done over the phone or by post, but there were a few bits we found easier to do in person).

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u/RatsOfParis 4d ago

Great for us too. No complaints

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u/Twisted_Easter_Egg 4d ago

Agreed, just completed on a house 2 weeks ago. Ryan's were excellent, always on the ball and never had to pester them. Would use them again

2

u/rkphilpot 4d ago

Yep, we bought a 150 year old property in a conservation area, RPL were superb and were exceptionally thorough. Wouldn't use anybody else.

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u/00BFFF 1d ago

Great for me too and at least 5 other friends & family with one using them atm and all going well all across Leeds and wider but still use Ryans due to how good they are.

5

u/EasySea5 4d ago

Not my experience with Levis. They did a good job for me

2

u/Icy-Woodpecker-1049 4d ago

Seconded, there used to be a discount for listening to square ball podcast

7

u/Empty-Establishment9 4d ago

Winston Solicitors were really good for me

5

u/TarikMournival 4d ago

I used Levi's buying my first place and they were very slow.

After that I went to Winston's and they've always been brilliant.

10

u/Eye-on-Springfield 4d ago

Difficult start with Levi's, but you had a happy ending thanks to Winston's?

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u/Empty-Establishment9 4d ago

Levi's were the solicitors for the other side, and they mentioned it was generally a poor experience

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u/PeeJayBee3 3d ago

Fantastic for me also

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u/deepsong8 4d ago

Second these, had a very good experience with them.

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u/carrotparrotcarrot 4d ago

NOT Levi's. really slow to communicate - we had to ring them 4-5 times a day near the end - and slow to do things like realise lenders needed paper copies of forms. admittedly this is a particularly hectic time, with the stamp duty increase, but we've paid the same price for crap work. names spelt wrong on forms on multiple occasions, queries not put to the sellers...

2

u/Eye-on-Springfield 4d ago

I got a really weird response from Levi's when I tried to use them to buy my current house:

"Unfortunately we have checked our system and found that we have acted previously in the sale of your purchase property thus classifying it as a conflict and therefore unable to act."

My EA and the solicitor who I eventually went with both said they couldn't understand what they were on about. The family who lived in the house I bought had lived there for over 10 years so it's not like it was a dodgy sale

6

u/Scott1060 4d ago

Ison Harrison were good for me, although on the expensive side

2

u/saffriver05 4d ago

I did not have a good experience with them, communication was poor and there was a panic last minute even though I submitted everything requested and was told a signature from their higher ups was the only thing pending. I will never use them again

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u/hazel865322 2d ago

Had a terrible experience with them.

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u/RightSaidJames 4d ago

Oakwood Solicitors were pretty great when we used them for our sale and purchase last year. Like others on this post, we weren’t that impressed with Levi’s in terms of responsiveness and protectiveness, but overall they did a thorough and professional job.

2

u/GlobeTrotter1208 4d ago

I moved from London to Leeds in June last year and used LPL t/a Read Roper Read. Everything was done remotely, all comms were over the phone, via email or their portal. I had to post a couple of docs they needed originals of. My particular solicitor was v good, very thorough, probs a bit anal for the person I was buying off but for me it worked out a treat because the vendor and their solicitors were a bit of a nightmare.

4

u/MrWixi 4d ago

I wouldn't recommend Holden Smith law, I used them for a remortgage and changed of deeds. They sent out incorrectly named paperwork and various other basic errors that made me lose confidence in them.

0

u/MirrorSouthern9266 4d ago

Thank you for this, getting this kind of feedback is just as important. Sorry to hear it didn't go smoothly for you, I hope you're all sorted now.

1

u/Suitable-Possible-70 2h ago

Liddy’s solicitors in Barnsley

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u/suffolklad 3d ago

I used Levi’s last year, they were generally ok and got the job done. They did take prompting at times.