198 reviews (4/5) and information for O'Neill Patient Solicitors LLP, Stockport

26/05/25 - Reviewed by Anonymous

I would not recommend ONP, Stockport. However, I don't often buy and sell properties so this is based on my perception of the process we went through when selling our property recently. I'm writing this detailed review in the hope that it helps others:

1. Lack of clarity on the process: I was told I'd receive a welcome pack shortly after signing up. Instead, I received a phone call a few days later. I wasn’t home, and no message was left. I called back but couldn’t reach my solicitor so I sent an email. She eventually called back, but by that point, several days had passed. She said she needed to verbally confirm all the information I'd provided. She went through the entire form with me over the phone, which seemed redundant since I had completed it carefully. This requirement to reconfirm everything verbally wasn’t made clear at the start, and it delayed the process unnecessarily.

2. Misleading Information about online authorisation and checks: I specifically asked whether the authorisation and identity checks could be completed online, as we lived abroad. I was assured it could, which is why I chose ONP. However, that turned out not to be the case. Although we provided all our information at the start, we were only told five months later, at the end of the process, that my husband needed to get his documents notarised and courier them from abroad to the UK. We also had to sign and send other original documents, which incurred extra costs and delays. This requirement should have been communicated earlier in the process and more clearly. I chose ONP after being assured that everything could be done digitally, and I felt misled.

3. Confusing instructions regarding signatures & documentation: My husband and I signed separate signature sheets and sent them over electronically. About a week later, we were asked to courier the originals, which we did—sending one full document with our separate signature pages. We were then told that we each needed to provide a full set of documents with our signed pages. We had to send another set from abroad to the UK, costing more time and money. Clearer, more detailed guidance would have avoided this.

4. Requests for unnecessary Information: ONP passed on a series of buyer queries, which we did our best to answer. One asked for a FENSA certificate for a door fitted several years before we bought the property. I didn’t have it, so paid £25 to get a replacement and sent it over. To my frustration, this was not forwarded to the buyer’s solicitor. Instead, ONP said that, as members of the Conveyancing Association, they would not provide documents mentioned in searches (FENSAs, CORGIs, or TPOs). If that was the case, why were we asked to get it in the first place? It was a waste of time and money. I asked for an explanation on this but did not receive a satisfactory answer. A friend later told me that sellers are not legally required to provide any documents from the period BEFORE they purchased the property - so check on this with your solicitor to save wasting time.

5. Ineffective Online App: In my opinion, the online app is a waste of time and money. The tracking section is far too simplistic—it doesn’t show if there are outstanding tasks, and you have to search through other sections or check your emails instead. Completing the Seller's form via the app was very time-consuming and frustrating —each answer had to be saved before moving on to the next. I'd have preferred to fill in a Word or Excel document and return via email. That would have been significantly quicker and more user-friendly.

6. Requests for the same information: There were a few occasions when I was asked to resend documents or respond to questions I'd already answered. When I queried whether something was unclear in my previous responses, I didn’t receive a reply or a proper explanation. This left me feeling like my information wasn’t being read or tracked properly, which added to my frustration.

7. Slow process: Overall, I felt ONP was slow in handling our case. There were delays due to the issues listed above. Replies usually took several days, so I got the impression that our solicitor was either inexperienced and had to check with a more senior person before replying - or perhaps was juggling too many cases. Near the end, my husband and I were asked to call in separately to give verbal authorisation to proceed to completion. We did this—only to be told on the next working day that our authorisation had “expired” and we had to do it again. This seemed arbitrary and unnecessary and gave me the sense that our file was being delayed for some reason —possibly because they were too busy to process it the first time - or perhaps because our solicitor was away on leave (as we had received an OOO from him).

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