Brethertons LLP Solicitors - Banbury - Banbury

Anita Deane

Leo and Lewis, at the Banbury Branch of Brethertons, worked exceptionally hard to ensure that a very difficult sale went through according to our original deadlines. They were both friendly, helpful and fast in their responses. They had to deal with our buyers' solicitor who frequently ignored communications and belatedly asked many questions. We cannot recommend them highly enough.

Penny J Mathias

How fortunate that Brethertons (Leo Deane and his team) looked after both our house sale and purchase. Where to start. Communication was outstanding throughout, prompt and clear, whether by email or phone and Leo always made himself available for face to face meetings when needed. He worked quickly so that with both sides of the transaction we were always on the front foot. His proactivity was not at the expense of accuracy. We were so grateful for his care, thoroughness and rigorous attention to detail. These qualities mattered because for reasons outside his control, the purchase side of our transaction was enormously difficult, complicated and stressful. But there Leo was with his persistence, kindness and good sense. No surprise costs and we felt in the safest of hands throughout. We cannot thank Leo enough. Lewis too and we would return to Brethertons without hesitation in the future.

Johnny Holland

Appalling company that has just admitted to me IN WRITING ('Strictly the matter should not have been progressed' and 'I apologise that the situation developed') they not only didn't carry out proper Anti Money Laundering checks but also sought to overcharge my company by almost £1500 to boot. Were a good firm of solicitors once. Now ? Avoid. Avoid. Avoid. As others have noted, seem to be simply interested in what fees can be charged.

J V

Very surprised by the 5-star reviews for Brethertons in Banbury. They were fine, but considering the fees I’d have expected much better service and certainly would not give them 5 stars!

We used them for conveyancing for our first home and used them primarily due to the outstanding reviews on Google. I felt like we had to chase about things and everything seemed to take much longer than expected. For instance, we received a lot of paperwork in December to go through, but then completion took 3 months more, even though the final report didn’t contain much more than in the documents received the previous year. I’m sure there’s a lot of extra work that goes on that we don’t know about, but I also felt we weren’t kept in the loop and we knew nothing of the process being first time buyers.

When we were nearing completion, we explained we needed to know the contract exchange date so that we could sort out insurance of the property. Brethertons suggested a certain date and we agreed, assuming this had all been discussed with the seller’s solicitor. We then organised insurance for that day. A few working days before, we had a confusing email asking if we had sorted out building insurance and it was required if we were to exchange contracts before the completion day, so it sounds like this hadn't even been discussed and set in stone with the seller’s solicitor. Brethertons then said we had to show proof of insurance and I felt like were trying to make out it was our fault for the contract exchange not going ahead as planned – firstly, Brethertons had never told us this was required (again we’re first-time buyers and don’t know all the processes) and it actually turned out it wasn’t needed for our specific case, meaning Berthertons didn’t seem clued up on what was needed. Similarly, with the transfer of funds, it all felt very last minute. We explained we had a lot of money to transfer and in some cases could only transfer a certain amount per day depending on the bank. Had we not chased and followed up about this, we wouldn’t have had enough time to transfer everything as we were still transferring the day before the money needed to be cleared in their accounts.

After completion day, we were told that Brethertons were submitting a registration to the land registry and also had a HMRC certificate they would send on when the land registry documents arrived. Online it had said this could take up to four months at the moment, so we hadn’t chased previously. We completed in March and emailed in July to query when we would receive the certificate and registration documents, only to be sent them straight away with the documents dated as early April! The solicitor said he usually sent them when he “had a spare minute” – are you really telling me they didn’t have a spare minute in three months to simply attach some documents to an email, especially when we’d paid thousands of pounds for them to work on our behalf? Who knows when we would’ve received these had we not asked.

All in all, very expensive for an amateur service. Hopefully we won’t be moving house soon, but we would seriously think about using them again and went elsewhere to sort out other legal documents.

Keith Hodge

Leo at Brethertons did the conveyancing for our sale and purchase, and we couldn't have been happier with the service we received. Leo went above and beyond for us. He and his team were thorough, professional, friendly, always quick to answer our queries and to chase up others when needed. And we found they were very well respected among the estate agents and other solicitors, which was really helpful. A great experience all round.

Judith Jackson

Leo Deane dealt with the remortgage of my home and the change of title deeds. Throughout the process, he was professional, supportive and clearly communicated about each step in the process. Leo delivered an exceptional service and was available whenever advice was sought.

Joel Drapper

Hidden fees and deceptive business practices. Serious Concerns Regarding Pricing Transparency

A few years ago, I engaged the services of Dominic Wisdom. During our collaboration, there were some challenges regarding the clarity of costs. Initially, I paid £500 as an advance payment, with the understanding, based on Dominic’s assurances, that I would be notified before reaching this amount.

Unexpectedly, I received an additional invoice for £1,787.00. This was without any prior indication that the initial budget of £500, which I had set for the specific consultation, was being exceeded.

Henry Fuller

I would not hesitate to recommend Leo and the team at Brethertons to family and friends. Definitely the most efficient cog in the machine that was our first house purchase.
Their quote was clear from the beginning, with no absolutely necessary “extras” which so many other solicitors add on at a later date.
Thank you