Property Law Partners Complaints Procedure
We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards. We deal with all complaints fairly, promptly and at no extra cost to you.
- What is a complaint?
A report by a client that their expectations of what they consider to be a good service have not been met.
- Making a complaint
You can register a complaint with a Director at David@propertylawpartners.co.uk.
In the first instance, we’d prefer if you write to us with full details of your complaint so that we have a good understanding of the issues being highlighted.
- Investigating the complaint
- We will acknowledge the complaint within seven days which allows for any postal delays and notify you who will be handling your complaint.
- We will record your complaint in our central register and open a file for your complaint. We will conduct a full investigation and an independent review of the matter.
- We aim to respond in full within 28 days. However, if the complaint is of a more complex nature, we will require more time, but we will let you know when you will receive a full response. We may also invite you to meet with the Supervisor to gather more information and resolve the matter.
- We will reply to you, usually in writing following the outcome of the review of the complaints investigated.
If still unresolved at this stage, you may take the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman
You may also refer to our Regulator the Council for Licensed Conveyancers at 131 Finsbury Pavement, London EC2A 1NT 0208.859.0904 or email to CLC@CLC-UK.ORG
LEGAL OMBUDSMAN
The Legal Ombudsman is the independent body established by the Office for Legal Complaints under the Legal Services Act 2007 to deal with complaints against Solicitors.
The Legal Ombudsman may:
- Investigate the quality of professional service supplied by a solicitor to a client.
- Investigate allegations that a solicitor has breached rules of professional conduct.
- Investigate allegations that a solicitor has unreasonably refused to supply a professional service to a prospective client
- Investigate allegations that a solicitor has persistently or unreasonably offered a professional service that the client does not want
Before it will consider a complaint the Legal Ombudsman generally requires that the firm’s internal Complaints Procedure (outlined above) has been exhausted. If the Legal Ombudsman is satisfied that the firm’s proposals for resolving a complaint are reasonable, it may decline to investigate further. You will have to bring your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of receiving a final response from us about your complaint and 6 years from the date of the act or omission, giving rise to the complaint. Alternatively, 3 years from the date you should reasonably have known there are grounds for complaint.
The Legal Ombudsman’s address and contact details are:
PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ; telephone, 0300 555 0333; website, www.legalombudsman.org.uk; or email enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
- Compensation Fund
If you make a valid claim against us for a loss arising out of the work for which we are legally responsible and we are unable to meet our liability in full, you may be entitled to claim from the Compensation fund administered by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers from whom details can be obtained.
- Financial Conduct Authority
This firm is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. However we are included in the register maintained by the Financial Conduct Authority so that we can carry on Insurance Distribution Activities, which is broadly advising on, selling and administration of Insurance contracts. This part of our business is regulated by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers and arrangements for complaints or redress if something goes wrong are subject to the jurisdiction of the Legal Ombudsman (www.legalombudsman.org.uk). The register can be accessed via the Financial Conduct Authority website at https://register.fca.org.uk