nelsonslaw.co.uk

Extremely disappointing experience – excessive fees and poor service

I have never felt the need to leave a negative review for any businesses prior to this. After what i've experienced, I thought i must share this to avoid any other persons from going through the same hardships and heartache i've had to go through. I had a very disappointing experience dealing with Nelsons Solicitors during the assignment of a commercial lease.The firm was appointed by the landlord, but I was required to pay the legal fees. What should have been a relatively straightforward lease assignment became extremely expensive and frustrating.The matter was handled by a partner of the firm, which made the overall experience even more surprising. Communication throughout the process was slow and often unresponsive. Draft documents frequently took a long time to come through, and when they did arrive many of them were not workable according to my own solicitors and had to be sent back for further revision. This created significant stress and delays for our project, not to mention additional costs and fees on my end outside the already massively inflated budget - thanks to their slow responses. What was most frustrating was the final cost. The bill came to around £14,000, which was far higher than what other professionals in the pharmacy sector had indicated would normally be expected for this type of commercial lease assignment - typically less than HALF that if not perhaps usually 1/3 or 1/4 of that cost - i know this for a fact as these were regularly dealt with by the other firm which i'm familiar with. This level of cost was not clearly indicated in advance. The explanation given was that there had been multiple revisions, however many of those revisions appeared to arise from issues within the earlier drafts which they did not complete properly themselves. It was difficult to understand how the level AND quality of work carried out could reasonably justify a bill of that size.Because the firm was acting for the landlord and the lease assignment had to go through them in order for the deal to proceed, there was very little ability to challenge the escalating fees without risking the project itself. By that stage we had already invested heavily in the transaction and had no realistic option but to proceed.Following completion, I later spoke directly with the landlord and was told that they had experienced similar difficulties with the same solicitor and had previously raised a complaint with another partner at the firm. Unfortunately, they indicated that nothing appeared to come of it. It is pretty shocking that the solicitor had to be chased multiple times to move things ahead as well throughout the entire timeline - from my perspective it certainly seemed like they couldnt be bothered with our project. Overall, the experience left me feeling that the costs were disproportionate to the work involved, and the level of service fell well below what I would expect from a professional legal firm. If it were possible to give zero stars, I would.Based on my experience, the lack of transparency and professionalism throughout this process means I will certainly not be returning to this firm or recommending their services to anyone we know. The matter was handled by a partner of the firm whose initials are S.S., which made the overall experience even more surprising.

Date of experience: Dec 12, 2025