Birchall Blackburn Law Reviews 

If you are looking for a dynamic conveyancing services involving good communication, sharp minds and decisive action then my experience suggests Birchall Blackburn Law are NOT for you. Despite there being an empty house and no chain, it took months and months for Birchall Blackburn Law to complete the formalities in relation to the sale of my late mother’s house with the buyer’s solicitors. The blame for the delay was always someone else fault but from what I could tell there was very little proactivity on Birchall Blackburn Law’s side to get the sale over the line quicker. There was also a mistake in their billing for the conveyancing work which required a repayment from them to me but, true to form, even this took the “Slow Houses” weeks to process. Go elsewhere.

As a first-time buyer, I relied heavily on clear and professional guidance throughout this process; regrettably, the service I received fell short of reasonable expectations, particularly given the fees charged.

There were two key instances when my solicitor was absent without prior notice, which caused delays and stress. The first absence occurred when we believed we were ready to exchange contracts. I only discovered her unavailability when I emailed her and received an out-of-office reply. During this period, I would have expected Birchall Blackburn to arrange for cover to proactively contact me, but that was not the case, and I had to reach out to generic Birchall Blackburn inboxes before being connected with another colleague. While this cover was eventually more responsive than my original solicitor, I was unable to act on missing documents immediately, as I was abroad, and had previously been assured by my solicitor that no further postal documents were required.

The second absence occurred the day before we were due to complete the purchase. Again, no alternate contact was provided, and I had to reach out to the previous cover to be put in touch with two colleagues.

Overall, my solicitor's responsiveness was inconsistent. At the start, replies were slow. Following my feedback via a phone call to another colleague, responsiveness briefly improved before deteriorating again. Important documents were often sent combined into large files, with titles that differed from her instructions, making it difficult for me as a first-time buyer to identify what was required. On at least one occasion, her email and letter instructions conflicted, resulting in additional postage costs and unnecessary stress. In addition, where documents were shared via the firm’s online portal, there was a comments box intended for questions and clarifications. On multiple occasions, I left queries in this space, but they were never addressed, and I had to follow up by email instead. This added unnecessary effort and frustration to an already challenging process.

Furthermore, the financial statements provided contained errors. The initial statement double-counted the gift fee, and a subsequent statement omitted certain costs, which I only became aware of the day before completion.

The cumulative effect of these issues was a prolonged, stressful process, with a no-chain property sale taking five months to complete.

Now, over 4 weeks following completion, I still have not received the indemnity insurance document that I paid for. Worryingly, I have also received a letter from HMRC requesting that I pay the stamp duty tax, the exact amount of which was factored into the mortgage taken from the lender, and should have been paid by the solicitor.

I am also yet to received a response from Birchall Blackburn about my complaint, which was submitted to them formally on the 12th September. Their initial reply said to expect a response by the 7th November, which does not convey to me that they take these shortcomings, nor my experience as a client, seriously.

I cannot recommend this solicitor. Avoid.

I used Birchall Blackburn Law for the conveyancing on my first home purchase and the service I received was excellent. My solicitor, Davina, was fantastic. She was unbelievably efficient and detail-oriented, and she kept me well informed at every stage of the process. The online portal was also very handy for easily referring back to all the required documents. Would definitely recommend to anyone buying a home!

Ilsaah Ahmed was absolutely useless. I have never come across, a more incompetent person and company in my life. Our conveyancing was cancelled mid way through, without any valid explanation. We provided all the relevant documents but were still cancelled for no legal reasons. Why can't you just be transparent with your clients?

Avoid them at all cost, they will waste your time and give you a false sense of hope.

Maryam H. is absolutely useless.

Very efficient, patient and helpful. Could not have wished for a more professional service.
Thank you all BB Team !!

They were unable to exchange contracts in more than five months on a sale with no chain, vacant possession, no tree preservation orders, no land or neighbour disputes. Only got moving when I abandoned the sale. Difficult to contact, made omissions in the contract and were abysmally slow.

I was linked to BBL through a mortgage broker (Tembo) as I hoped for a quick and efficient wrap around service as I have very limited time. Tembo was great but the service I received from BBL was inefficient, slow, unprofessional and poor. This was a no chain purchase and delays felt unecessary and excessive.

There was virtually no personal contact and the majority of communication for the first few months was conducted through generic email addresses and I often waited days for limited, badly constructed responses. BBL operates its ID checks through a poorly functioning portal that no one at BBL can help with when it doesn't work. The other portal through which documents are provided set up a barrier between me and my conveyancer. Uploaded document titles often didn’t align with advisory letters and all letter were generic. Nothing was explained, never mind explained well.

Despite asking on various occasions, I received next to no feedback, on timelines or what to expect, which as a first time buyer was extremely frustrating - Google was more helpful. Questions often went unanswered, and I spent the equivalent of days doing research on my property purchasing queries. I feel like invoicing BBL for my time.

This review is not personal or specifically aimed at the people who served me - I sense staff are overwhelmed with too much work and deliberately distanced from clients through generic email addresses, apps and portals. I would not recommend BBL.

I cannot recommend Birchall Blackburn Law. My experience with them was the most stressful and disappointing property purchase I have faced in 30 years.

Excessive delays – The process dragged on for over 10 months for what should have been a straightforward residential leasehold purchase. This caused my mortgage offer to lapse, putting the entire transaction at risk.

Unnecessary and damaging enquiries – Instead of focusing on what mattered, my solicitor raised irrelevant questions (including suggesting it might be a “stressed sale”), which could easily have jeopardised the deal and pushed the seller to increase the price.

Lack of proactive case management – At no point did I feel my solicitor was steering the transaction efficiently. They failed to distinguish between critical and trivial issues, and did not take a pragmatic approach such as considering indemnity insurance. Instead of helping me progress, they created bottlenecks and stress.

Severe personal and financial impact – Because of their mishandling, I missed the SDLT reduction in April 2025, had to pay for unnecessary additional insurances, and faced huge disruption to my financial planning. For months, I had no certainty of completion, making it impossible to plan my move, works, or rentals.

Poor complaint handling – When I raised a formal complaint, I received dismissive responses which failed to engage with the substance of my concerns. I was essentially told their “final response” stood, leaving me no option but to escalate to the Legal Ombudsman.

I came to Birchall Blackburn on recommendation, expecting professionalism and a commercially minded service. Instead, I experienced delay, disorganisation, unnecessary stress, and a lack of accountability. I would strongly urge others to think very carefully before instructing this firm for conveyancing.

Excellent service again from Karen Williams and her team

They were efficient in all matters, responding promptly when needed.

We used BB Law recently for our house purchase after previously using them for our last sale which they made things really smooth and easy for us.

This time round though the solicitor was really attentive, every question we asked, queries we raised she got back to us really quickly. We’ve had solicitors in the past take days or even a week or 2 to get back to us but we had none of this, we usually had a response within the hour.

We don’t plan on moving anytime soon again but if we do we’ll use BB Law again and we’d recommend them to our friends, family and anyone who is reading this review.

We also found that they were one of the most reasonable quotes with no hidden extras.

Absolutely useless. Never answer their phone. Go else where if you actually want a service.

Just far too slow they changed my solicitor without notifying me and went way over the estimated cost,not very helpful with older people with dealing online, would have been nice with a bit of face to face contact.

Excellent service from Birchall Blackburn Law. Particular shout out to Amy & Ellen for all their hard work, keeping me updated throughout and providing clear advice.

I had just three weeks to complete my remortgage before my fixed rate ended — no chain, but a tight deadline. Once Sarah was allocated my case, she handled everything efficiently and diligently. No time was wasted, communication was clear, and the process moved smoothly from start to finish.

Thanks to her hard work, we completed on time and avoided any disruption to my mortgage. I’m so grateful for the support and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the team at Birchall Blackburn.

I was thoroughly impressed with the excellent service provided by Nicholas Tyrer. Always super friendly, he ensured every issue was handled swiftly and effectively. I would highly recommend their services to anyone. Thank you for an excellent professional service.

High level of communication throughout from my solicitor Kieran. He helped guide me through the various final stages to sale completion. I had a very positive experience with Birchall Blackburn Law and would use you again for any future conveyancing services. I have used other firms for property in the past and BBL out performed my prior experiences with other firms.

Absolutely superb service from the conveyancing team. The efficiency, professionalism and swift communication made what could have been a very stressful experience, a smooth transaction. I cannot praise them highly enough. Particular praise to Kyle, solicitors assistant in the conveyancing team. His attention to detail is simply outstanding.
Very highly recommended for conveyancing transactions. Thank you.

Absolutely horrendous firm. Doesn’t even deserve 1 star. Please check the google reviews before you use this firm for the real picture.
We were no chain first time buyers, offer accepted in January and only picked up the keys at the start of July due to the delays and just awful service from this firm.
Lack of communication is shocking, the seller of our house actually threatened to pull out 4 times, and on the final time had told our solicitor they had a week to respond… they failed to inform us of this and we only found out as the seller was kind enough to message me directly!!
Demi does not answer the phone and instead chooses to email (but obviously will not respond to your emails). Charged us extra money to review ‘new’ documents I’d provided at the start. Miscalculated the final amount we had to pay on exchange, so risked delaying the whole thing again and even though it was their fault they had the audacity to make it our emergency to fix.
Birchall Blackburn ruined what should have been a really special and exciting time for us, instead making it 6 months of hell where every day we thought we were going to loose the house we fell in love with! Please save your sanity and use a different firm!!