Challenor Gardiner Anmeldelser 

Great experience overall. Especially since i have been in a different country and during covid the entire time and they were able to successfully complete my matter with all concerned parties back in the UK. thank you Challenor Gardiner and thank you mr Gary

We found Challenor Gardiner to be very professional, efficient and friendly when my husband and I went in to make a will. Their costs were a reasonable price and we have no hesitation in using them again and will recommend them to our friends.

Very poor service. A Deed Poll application that was consistently poorly handled by the legal assistant. The forms were incorrectly completed; was invoiced the wrong amount and the Deed Polls were issued unsigned and unendorsed.
I had to correct repeatedly, which was never a problem, but left me wondering what I didn't know!
Also, the advice that an unenrolled Deed Poll was acceptable in most places proved untrue.

A good, professional service even during lock down. I am very happy to recommend Curtis Rogers and Challenor Gardiner.

Curtis has been amazing throughout our sale and onward purchase. With the top of the chain threatening to pull out, he managed to pull out all the stops to get us ready to exchange in 2 weeks. Even after our buyer pulled out (due to a cat, genuinely) he has helped no end whilst we tried to sort out a new mortgage so we could try and save the chain. We haven’t reached the finish line yet but the support and guidance provided by Curtis has been incredible and I cannot thank him enough, no matter what happens next. I highly recommend.

Gary Kwek provided a thorough and professional service. I am happy to recommend him and Challenor Gardiner. He made the process as painless as possible!

Recent House Sale

This is the second time I have used Challenor Gardiner once to purchase and to then sell the property. They provided an excellent service both times. Gary and his staff are very helpful and took the time to explain the process as it went along. A five star service. Thank you.

I always use Challenor Gardiner for conveyancing services and they have provided me excellent services especially in working with clients. At every step of the conveyance process (I used them for both sales and purchase) they always explain to you in plain words of the true meaning behind legal jargons and your options as well as pros and cons.

I have never realised the true quality of services Challenor Gardiner had provided to me until I was foolish enough to believe Lifetime Legal's fantasy of combine selling and buying discount and picked Gilroy Steel Solicitors for selling my house. As a client of Gilroy Steel I do not get to talk to my solicitor instead they let their a butch of assistants handle my case. In one occasion, the TR1 form sent by the buyer's solicitor got the wrong address of my property and Gilroy Steel did not spot it and asked me to sign the form. Fortunately I spotted the mistake but it took a lot of chasing to have it corrected. Although the sales went through the real effort was due to the push from myself and the negotiation skill of the estate agent (Scottfrase).

This type of mistakes would never have happened at Challenor Gardinor. In particular I would like to praise my solicitor Gary Kwek at Challenor Gardinor who helped me navigated through complex legal jangle to successfully purchase a buy to let property. He went to great length going through every detail of the files to ensure the correct processes were followed as the house had been substantially modified and planning application was quite complicated.

As promised he is now helping me to find the SDLT UTR number so that I can claim back the additional stamp duty after I sold my main home.

So in one sentence comparing my experience at Challenor Gardiner against Giroy Steel its like first class travel against economy but with the price wrong way round.

Dr Jie Lin
36 Cranbrook Drive
Kennington
Oxford OX1 5RR

We used Challenor Gardiner for both purchase and selling conveyancing. In these troubled times it is very much about managing expectations and communication. We became frustrated with an initial lack of progress and communication, had we been told the likely timescale for the process we would have been less concerned. Once Gary Kwek was fully engaged we received very timely and professional service. Gary looked after our interest and devoted much energy and time in ensuring both the sale and purchase went to completion. We would definitely recommend but perhaps get a realistic time check during this difficult period.

Everyone was supportive, kind and professional. More than just a solicitor, this small firm takes real care of its clients. I will never use anyone else. Particular praise goes to Curtis Rogers and the wonderful lady who came as locum, (Cath?) and saw me through a very tricky time. She was quite wonderful.

At a time of great adversity in my life the advice (and the service) I was given was truly outstanding. Thanks to them I was able to me overcome a huge obstacle.

A solid, trustworthy Oxford solicitors. All our dealings with them over the years have been expertly and efficiently handled. And they are a friendly and warmhearted team too. I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending them.

Curtis was fantastic. We will be using CG for our services in the future. Highly recommend

Excellent service and fast to respond to queries.

Worst experience I’ve ever had just for a simple transfer of the deeds with no equity transfer involved. Had to constantly email and ring them just to find out what stage they were at. They didn’t reply to emails for weeks and came up with excuses on the phone. The two solicitors that were dealing with my case initially were awful, never replied, and then suddenly went on leave. I had to send an extra £700 just to make sure I could complete the next day to then be told it wasn’t actually required... then took them over 2 weeks to send the money back after continuous chasing! It was so stressful and I really wish I’d read these reviews first.

Update on the update: Challenor Gardiner have published a reply to my previous update. The arrogance and contempt of this firm seems to hold no bounds. After everything that happened they are now intimating that I "bullied" their admin staff. (This is indeed the verb they use). I did not "bully" anyone, nor would I. Perhaps Challenor Gardiner would care to re-read what I wrote? For your convenience I shall summarise the pertinent points. I had spoken to your administrator several weeks before my last contact. She was quite conversant with my case and claimed to be dealing with it personally in earnest and chasing up matters with the property management company and the Land Registry. The last contact saw her deny this and instead try to foist blame onto the Land Registry - who had in fact acted quite correctly and in reasonable time. I simply referred to the previous conversation and politely and directly asked her to explain her statement in light of the revelations from my enquiries with the Land Registry. Yes, I did rather directly put her on the spot, and took no pleasure in doing so, however by this juncture I was sick and tired of hearing other parties blamed unfairly. Had she said: "We haven't got round to it yet", or words to that effect, I would have been a lot more forgiving and would not have pressed the point so. Yes I was assertive, yes I was polite. Did I tolerate any nonsense? No, I did not -and nor will I. As a senior lawyer (and you know you are) you should be well aware of word definitions, and would do well not to accuse me, directly or indirectly, of bullying anyone. Insofar as bullying goes, I would suggest that you look a little closer to home.

Update: This firm has published a reply that betrays their utter contempt and arrogance towards my situation. Unlike what they wrote, my review was and still is factually correct. If this is how they behave with their clients - in whose interests they are supposed to act - it is a pretty poor show. Ask yourself - why would I telephone a firm of solicitors in the middle of the night when no person or voicemail is there? Why would I do that? Perhaps I wanted to listen to a ringing telephone line? Or perhaps this was simply untrue. Distressed though I was at various junctures, I had not lost my marbles! I did email in a video clip with me talking to camera for about 50 seconds briefly outlining my extreme concerns. I also emailed in 2 video clips of me posting letters / forms as a sort of modern Proof of Posting because my work schedule precluded my getting to the Post Office during the day.
My case WAS passed around from person to person, most of whom did not handle my case competently or efficiently. Why else did my case referred for review when all the work was supposedly already done? Challenor Gardiner are good at blaming other parties (as were the seller's solicitors) and the latest thing, several months after my purchase eventually completed, is that Challenor Gardener delayed the registration of my flat with the Land Registry, incorrectly blaming them when in fact they had written to Challenor Gardiner in a reasonable timely fashion on 24th September. Cut to mid-November and Ms Jane Wheeler of Challenor Gardiner then claimed to need documentary approval from the property managing agents, and that this information "had only just crossed her desk" some two days before we spoke. Ms Wheeler appeared to forget the last (recorded) telephone conversation we had had some 5 weeks prior during which she acknowledged receipt of the request from the Land Registry and stated that she would get the relevant information from the managing agents! When confronted with this and asked for an explanation Ms Wheeler would not provide one. She did not like being put on the spot!
Anyway, it is now finally sorted...however this firm's handling of things left a lot to be desired.

There now follows the text of my original review...

So much has this firm dragged their heels over my flat purchase I now find myself facing imminent homelessness. In 7 days I will be out on the street and Challenor Gardiner have all my money! The whole process has been both torturous and tortuous as at every turn there have been delays, most of which I have good reason to believe were unnecessary. My case has been passed around 4 people and I have found my anxiety reach near nervous breakdown level as at every point they have let me down. Their communications are poor and their work is not efficient. They have today had the nerve to tell me they cannot complete next week because it would be "too rushed." So 16 weeks is not long enough for them to deal with the issues they have known about for weeks? I now face a weekend fraught with worry and on Monday I must telephone this firm to try and find a resolution to this whole sorry mess.

Very bad service- I would not recommend these people at all. I went to them in the first week of March about a case on behalf of my vulnerable parents who were ripped off on their housing work. The lawyer (who was actually a partner) took £120 off me to listen to the case and promised me within a week to deal with the matter. Several emails and unreturned phone calls happened in the next few weeks until I got hold of him late March and promised to deal with my case within another week. Its June now and heard nothing. Complete radio-silence throughout and am shocked at the level of unprofessionalism that my city lawyer friends are suggesting I should report these guys to the Law Society.

We had your trainee solicitor, we did not feel she was as knowledgable as we might we might have expected but she was very pleasant and helpful. We completed as we felt an urgency to complete re covid _19. This is not a review of your company as a whole as we had no experience of others.

Excellent and speedy service even after lockdown and I was very grateful.

A very stressful experience. Very poor communication and they miss important documents. Im still concerned they might have not completed everything they said they would. We were not moving out of our house, just changing names. A process I would consider simple. When I found a management document in my brother and my name, not my partners name I questioned it. I was passed onto someone who really didn't care. Who almost made me feel it was somehow my fault. Even though three qualified people checked our file and signed it off saying everything had been approved and completed.
This service is unacceptable and I would highly recommend you never use them. I know I definitely wouldn't.