We are regulated by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers, We Work, 120 Moorgate, London EC2M 6UR.
We strive to provide an efficient professional service but in the unfortunate event you have a complaint about the way in which your matter has been dealt with this is the procedure which will be followed:
A complaint is an oral or written expression of dissatisfaction which alleges that the complainant has suffered (or may suffer) financial loss, distress, inconvenience, or detriment.
We aim to resolve any complaint you have about the service we have given you as quickly as possible. If you are unable to resolve matters with the person who has been dealing with you please contact Claire Ward at [email protected] or Dean Campbell at [email protected] or write to 193 Main Road Dovercourt Harwich Essex CO12 3PH, telephone 01255 502366.
Once we have received your complaint, Claire Ward or Dean Campbell will write to you within 7 days to explain how your complaint will be investigated. If a complete response to your complaint has not been made by that time you will be told the latest date by which a complete answer will be given to your complaint (this should be not more than 28 days after we received your complaint). If you have made the complaint verbally, either at a meeting or on the telephone, we will set out in our full response our understanding of the nature of your complaint.
The assessment of the complaint will be based upon a sufficient and fair investigation. We will explain in writing our findings and where the complaint is upheld will offer remedial action or redress. This will be actioned promptly.
If you are dissatisfied with any aspect of our handling of your complaint, please feel free to contact Claire Ward and Dean Campbell who will conduct a separate review of your complaint. You will be told about the conclusion of this review within 28 days.
If after following the review process you remain dissatisfied with any aspect of our handling of your complaint, you may contact directly the Legal Ombudsman to ask them to consider the complaint further and there details are as follows:-
Tel no: 0300 555 0333
Email:[email protected]
Website: https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/
Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6806
Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ
Unless it agrees there are good reasons not to do so, the Legal Ombudsman will expect you to allow us to consider and respond to your complaint in accordance with the procedure set out above in the first instance. You can refer your complaint up to 6 months after you have received our final written response to your complaint. You can also use the Ombudsman service if we have not resolved your complaint within 8 weeks of us receiving it. A complaint can be referred to the Legal Ombudsman up to one year from the date of the act or omission or up to one year after discovering a problem. The ombudsman deals with service-related complaints; any conduct related complaints will be referred to the Council for Licensed Conveyancers.
Alternative complaints bodies such as ProMediate exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services but we do not agree to use such a scheme.
The CLC administers a Compensation Fund on behalf of the profession. You can apply for compensation if you have suffered an actual loss of money or of monetary value arising out of work for which the CLC regulated practice is legally responsible and if the practice is unable to meet its liability in full. You can make a claim if you have suffered a loss that was caused by dishonesty, fraud, negligence or failure to account for money received of a practice regulated by the CLC or of one of their employees. Each case is considered on its merits.
The CLC has absolute discretion to decide whether to make any payment out of the Fund – nobody has a legally enforceable right to a grant. It is a fund of last resort – before the CLC accept your claim, they may require you to recover your losses by all other means available, such as by making an insurance claim or by taking court action. The CLC will not consider making a payment unless it is satisfied that a person has taken all necessary and appropriate steps. You should contact the CLC as soon as possible if you are considering making an application for a grant (applications need to be made within 6 months after you have discovered you may have a claim) or are considering taking legal advice (since only in exceptional circumstances will the CLC make an allowance for legal costs claimed by an applicant).
