Business Articles

14th August 2007 - Robinsons Solicitors

Robinsons calls for Tesco to re-word 'misleading' property website

Derbyshire law firm Robinsons Solicitors has joined the chorus of complaints against a new website which claims High Street conveyancers can be slow and will not treat their clients as high priority.

Lawyers and the Law Society have already branded the website - www.tescopropertymarket.com - as "outrageous" and "misleading" after it set out the perceived advantages of using a licensed conveyancer instead of a solicitor when buying or selling a property.

The site says: "A solicitor is a general legal practitioner, while a licensed conveyancer is a specialist who concentrates solely on dealing with property."

It is also alleged that solicitors can be slow to respond and will not necessarily rate your property sale as their highest priority.

The information was taken from legal self-help publisher Lawpack and although Tesco said it is happy with the content, Steve Milne, head of residential conveyancing at Robinsons Solicitors, refutes the above statements and suggested the supermarket giant should re-word its advice.

"Their information could be highly misleading, because many solicitor firms, ourselves included, have whole departments solely devoted to conveyancing," he said.

"It is right that consumers should have a choice about where they go to, but there are many advantages in opting for your local firm of solicitors, not least because some conveyancing transactions can be complicated and require access to a breadth of legal knowledge beyond property law."

"The speed of response is down to the individual firm whether they are licenced conveyancers or solicitors. We pride ourselves in dealing with all matters expeditiously as our client surveys demonstrate."

Robinsons' residential department is based in Burns Street, Ilkeston, and has five full-time property professionals.