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Patron Law Blog

Changing Firms from Premier Property Lawyers, JS Law, DC Law, and Advantage Property Lawyers

08 Dec 2021

Following the recent cyber-attack on the IT systems of the conveyancing group, Simplify (which includes conveyancing firms, Premier Property Lawyers (My Home Move), JS Law, DC Law and Advantage Property Lawyers), we have received enquiries from clients wishing to instruct us to take over their property transactions.

We would like to reassure our clients that Patron Law has capacity to assist those wishing to change their conveyancer/solicitor. We pride ourselves on our impeccable service levels and we shall endeavour to turn around your transaction as efficiently as possible during this difficult time.

The Council of Licenced Conveyers (CLC), which regulates the above conveyancing firms, has advised as follows:

“Clients who have not yet exchanged contracts with their seller or buyer must consider whether to wait to progress their transactions when Simplify’s systems are running again or whether to instruct a different conveyancer. The limited access Simplify currently has to transaction files means that they cannot currently provide files to another conveyancer. We are pressing Simplify to address this. This could mean that you would need to start from the beginning, and this may result in your transaction taking longer. You should consider how far advanced your transaction is – how much work has already been done on it – when you make your decision. The CLC expects Simplify’s conveyancers to set this out clearly for each client.”

The CLC has stated the following with regard to costs:

“Will I have to pay for the conveyancing work already done?

Simplify have confirmed that its clients involved in the incident who move to another conveyancer will not be charged for the work already completed by Simplify. In addition, once they are available, land searches already completed for these clients will be transferred to the newly appointed conveyancer.”

If you wish to ask us to take over your transaction, please contact Property Solicitor, Shennell Richards, today on 0203 841 7473 or email: shennell.richards@patronlaw.co.uk.