Holden Smith Law Reviews 

I have been attempting to purchase a flat since September 2025 and was referred to Holden Smith by the estate agent, Thornley Groves in Manchester.

At the outset, Holden Smith appeared professional and competent. Although updates were infrequent, I was not overly concerned as the transaction seemed to be progressing. Once the mortgage offer was issued in October, everything appeared to be on track.

On 26th January, I was advised to propose a completion date, which I did—6th February 2026. I then arranged everything necessary in preparation for moving into my new home.

Then, on 30th January, I was informed that the lender had recorded a completely different firm of solicitors—one I had never heard of. To Halifax’s credit, they corrected the error and re issued the paperwork within 48 hours.

However, the following week I was unable to obtain any updates from either my solicitor or his assistant - Emails and calls went unanswered - Considering we were meant to complete/settle the transaction, I thought this was absolutely disgraceful!

On Monday 9th February, I finally received a response from the office manager, who advised that she would be taking over my transaction going forward. I also informed her at that point that I wished to make a formal complaint regarding how the matter had been handled over the previous weeks.

I was advised that I should allow the transaction to proceed and that a complaint could be raised at a later stage, as submitting one now would only cause further delays.

The new solicitor then identified additional enquiries and notified the lender of issues that should have been picked up much earlier in the process.

We are now approaching April, and we are still awaiting a response from the sellers’ agents regarding the EWS1 form. I attempted to obtain an update, only to receive an out of office reply from the solicitor's mailbox, stating she is not expected to return until mid April.

I am once again left at a crossroads, trying to understand whether anyone is progressing my transaction in her absence. I have emailed the solicitors assistant, but as usual, no response has been forthcoming.

At this stage, I genuinely do not know whether this transaction will ever complete, or whether I will simply find another property and withdraw altogether. Regardless of the outcome, I will ensure that I make the public aware—via social media and formal channels—of the standard of service provided by Holden Smith.

I also intend to raise this matter with the Law Society of England & Wales so that your practices are properly scrutinised and the general public are made aware of the level of customer service you provide.

Throughout the process I always felt comfortable that the legal team were acting in my best interest. Any queries I had were answered either by a phone call or an email. Today I am now enjoying living in my new home.
Job done

Thank you so much for all the hard work, excellent company 🙌 really appreciate everything you have done

Fabulous company !!
We recently sold and bought using Holden Smith’s solicitors and they were very efficient. Every correspondence was prompt and when they needed to forward any replies to our buyers solicitor they were super quick. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this firm to any prospective purchaser or seller.

Holden Smith are one professional bunch!
I've been dealing with Zack McKindley-Baines and Chloe Southall with my latest purchase and I can they are the best solicitors me and my family have ever used. I will be recommending them to everyone! Very persistent, easy to contact and dedicated.
You won't regret using their services

Lauren was brilliant throughout the whole process. Would definitely recommend 👌🏼

Writing this currently sat in my new living room after purchasing my first house. I had the absolute pleasure of having Daniel and Zain as my solicitors throughout this whole process. Where do I even start? Professional, Reliable, Friendly, On The Ball… the list could go on! They’ve been absolutely brilliant to deal with. I’ve not been the easiest person to deal with, but they’ve answered all of my questions, problems, calls and emails - all calming my nerves, and making me feel confident and comfortable with every step of the way.
If you’re reading this chaps, thank you very much for everything. And wish you both the very best in the future.

Damaride was great on our first house purchase journey. She kept us updated and answered our calls, making sure to keep us in the loop. We felt confident in her services and she made sure to always keep things moving. Thanks so much! X

I recently used Alex as my solicitor for a property purchase, and my first experience with him was extremely positive.

He was professional, responsive, and kept everything clear and straightforward throughout the process. I always felt informed and confident at each stage.

I’d highly recommend Alex to anyone buying property and will definitely use him again.

I had an excellent experience with Holden Smith, particularly Sara, during what could have been a very stressful time. From the outset, the team was professional, responsive, and incredibly supportive. They explained every step of the divorce process keeping me informed at each step.

Communication was prompt and straightforward, and any concerns I had were addressed quickly and with care. Their attention to detail and reassuring approach made a difficult situation much easier to manage.

I’m very grateful for their guidance and would highly recommend their services to anyone needing expert legal support during a divorce.

I sold our house and bought our new property through Holden Smith. Lucy Warburton was so helpful and very quick to respond to any queries we had.

I would definitely use Holden Smith again!

We had a very positive experience with Holden Smith for our house sale and purchase. Francesca Graham was wonderful to work with - she was really easy to communicate with, kept us updated regularly, and made the process much smoother than it could have been. This was a much more positive experience than we’ve had with other conveyancers in the past. Thank you Francesca!

I used them for a remortgage for one of my properties. They were simply brilliant. Very professional and efficient. I am very happy and using them again for another remortgage.

Caroline was an absolute star throughout the whole house sale.
It is the second time we’ve used Caroline for our house sale and wouldn’t hesitate to use her again.
The chain was a bit chaotic below and Caroline was so professional and helpful throughout. Nothing was too much trouble, no matter how many times we called her!
She made an extremely stressful process a lot easier to deal with.
Would recommend 1000%

Would highly recommend holden smiths solicitors. The staff was brilliant we had Caroline and she went above and beyond for us, even when she was on annual leave she still was checking on the house, chasing up with the vendors solicitors and communicating with us. The response time was superb and always on the other end of the phone if you needed to speak to them. The vendors we bought from was a nightmare but Caroline was good constantly chasing them up and reassuring us to hold in there.

Thank you again Caroline for helping us buy our first house.

From Liam and nichola

Having been caught up in the collapse of PW Law we struggled to find a new solicitor to take our case from exchange to completion. Abena was a complete hero and managed to tie up the many loose ends as well as finding our buyers funds in order to bring our completion in just a few hours past the original completion date.

Sara and Tilly did an absolutely amazing job guiding us and getting us through buying our first house. They helped us make sure we understood everything we needed to do and kept us up to date on where we were (I was a bit pushy on updates) every step of the way. The app was really handy for uploading and sending information across but I didn't get many updates this way. Overall an excellent experience for a very stressful life experience

We've just completed and moved into our new home and Alex Jones, as our dedicated solicitor, was brilliant throughout.
Whenever I had a question, I could call his direct line and Alex would answer immediately and know exactly what was going on with our case without prompting.
Also, I never had to chase Alex to complete anything. He was super proactive and completed everything we needed quickly and well before tasks needed completing, so there were never delays.
He made the whole process far less stressful and filled us with confidence throughout.
Thanks Alex!

Sukhmani is a complete star. She dealt with our sale in a professional, friendly and personalised way.
She kept us constantly updated and answered our queries without any delays.
The Reception Staff at the Horsforth branch are really wonderful and helpful. They made us feel like we were their only clients.
If you want a hassle free sale, supported by the best in the business then your only option should be Holden Smith.

Every step has been appalling and unprofessional. You can neither get in touch with their main office nor to Lauren Braithwaite. It always goes to ansaphone and then I don’t get timely responses so I have to go through my estate agent to get anything done. Even when I leave a message, it’s not attended to. There is no cohesion between people I speak to, so I don’t feel anyone has wholly got this in hand. I feel passed around much of the time. I received an email form Michala yesterday to print some time sensitive forms and post. The forms had both current buyer and previous buyer on the same forms. How on earth can that happen?! It’s so unprofessional. Thank God for my neighbour who was witnessing my signature who spotted it. So then I called two numbers for Holden Smith – both Lauren and main office. Of course nobody ever picks up. Left voicemails once again. Nobody calls back, so I’m forced to contact my (wonderful) estate agent. Rose at Bowden Bradley chased as Lauren who didn’t get back to me. I got the suppose “revised” forms which I passed to my neighbour for printing once again, only to find that they had sent the wrong ones AGAIN! How on earth was that possible? The incompetence is unbelievable. Where is the professionality? I don’t feel at all relaxed in this transaction. I feel nervous because I’m having to check the things that your company should be checking. What am I paying you for?! As soon as I make a complaint, I get a response from Lauren Braithwaite in minutes!!! That’s a first! But alas to defend herself without any basis. I wasn’t really happy, so at the advice of the receptionist, I contacted the manager of Holden Smith, Luke Underhill on 20th February. It’s now over 2 weeks later and not even had the courtesy to contact me back. This says a lot about a company. When the sale went through, despite them knowing that I am the deputy for my father, they chose to put my father’s monies into my personal bank account which caused me a lot of problems