Ducat Law - Orpington

Jessica S

Used Ducat Law’s services a few months ago- happy with the level of communication and professionalism of Sylvie. If having availability in the future I would intend to use Ducat Law in the future. All the best to the team and thank you very much. Update to the review*- Following my past positive experience, I have used Ducat Law in 2024, and have referred to family for future needs.

Phillippa Carter

I have nothing positive to say about this firm asides, that with the greatest of difficulty we did finally complete on our property sale and purchase. Looking at all of the positive reviews these seem to be from years ago and very few recent. So a serious word of caution to anyone looking for a solicitor for the conveyancing process in relation to this firm.

It is evident that this firm are a one man band, who take on more work than they can process/ handle. When you try and speak to Sylvie you are greeted with extreme sass, attitude and frankly rudeness. On one occasion she laughed on the phone to me when I explained the strain that the process (at that stage 5 months) had taken on me and my partner. She found it amusing of which I didn't and very clearly told her I didn't find it a laughing matter. She doesn't understand the meaning or urgent as she doesn't return calls you have to chase her multiple times in order to get a response. I had to on one occasion had to call 3 times which was soread over the course of an hour and a half on my holiday (of which I got charged for by my network provider) in order to speak to Sylvie the only reason I got through was because I had to ask the receptionist to go and ask her to pick up the phone - for context we had received and email from the estate agents that our vendors were about to pull out because of how long this process was taking, we had emailed to Sylvie the moment we found out about it stating the urgency but were completely ignored which prompted the frantic phone calls. That entire debacle completely overshadowed the entire holiday. I was also told outright that she doesn't get involved with the frustrations/ emotions of clients (in other words doesn't care) despite she herself being the cause of some of the frustrations/ emotions.

I appreciate that the property sale was a bit more complex than a normal sale. However, what I would have appreciated more was if Sylvie was actually honest and said its too much for her to deal with or outside of her scope therefore, we would be better suited to to elsewhere who had more experience with the type of sale than to have taken on our instruction. I think it would have saved us the headache.

There were some obvious breaches in the SRA code of conduct to which I would urge the SRA to investigate. But in all seriousness anyone looking for legal services would not go wrong then spending a little bit more money and getting yourself a decent solicitor who actually gives a dam about your instruction, isn't swamped in work, doesn't give bad attitude, actually communicates properly with you and upon occasion give you advice when required.

Ducat Law (specifically Sylvie) do not provide this in any shape or form. We went through what was undoubtedly the most stressful 5 months I have experienced largely due to this firm/ solicitor and I would frankly hate for anyone else to suffer as we did.

Tony Smith

Sylvie dealt with selling our house. She was always very quick in responding to emails, and always came to the phone if I needed to speak to her. Our buyer needed to exchange and complete on the same day which Sylvie carried out smoothly. Very happy with the service we received.

Sophia Howard

My partner and I recently used Ducat Law to purchase our first home together. We found Sylvie to be excellent - very quick to respond to our queries, proactive, efficient and knowledgeable. She made the process very easy for us. We would definitely recommend Ducat Law and will use their services again!

Lloyd Mason

We have now successfully completed the purchase of our first house. Michael was very thorough and ensured that everything was covered. He was happy to give me his time and advice any time I called up with (many) questions over the lengthy time it took to get to completion (through no fault of theirs). I would highly recommend them to anyone.

Agi Szaniszlo

1 star because I was unable to give zero. STAY AWAY, absolute disaster. She was my Buyer's solicitor and at one point I was considering cancelling sales altogether due to her extreme slowness and incompetence. She was literally driving everyone mad for 4 months: my Buyer, myself, my Solicitor, my agent and the Council (landlord of flat in question). With all those nonsense questions at one point the Council recommended me reporting her. Only go with her if you want huge amount of stress in your life and headache pretty much every day.

Cassandra Mathieson

We used Ducat Law to extend our lease and Sylvie made the whole process go smoothly. We are now using Ducat to buy and sell our home. Couldn't recommend more.

midi crd

I wish i could give zero star if there were any. The initial call was horrible! First got through to the receptionist and provided my name but she kept asking what my name was so i spell it for her, and she grumpily told me to say my name instead of spelling it. Eventually she put me through, talked to a solicitor with a tiny voice that i could barely hear, but she did patiently answer most of my questions. after i checked the quote she sent to me and then i decided to give her a call for more question. On the second phone call she started complaining i made too many call requests and she refusing to listen and answer my questions. The worst solicitor is the ones who refuse to listen. Yes, their price is cheap so is their attitude and their manners. Be warmed!