PLS Solicitors
View company profile →
Overpriced and underwhelming
From the onset, it was clear that PLS would be more expensive than others. This would have been acceptable if it came with a corresponding level of professionalism and expertise. Unfortunately, my experience suggests otherwise - I found them to be disorganised and lacking in competence throughout the process. One issue involved the withdrawal of funds from our Lifetime ISAs. PLS charged £150 per withdrawal, but in return provided little to no service. In my case, they sent the wrong forms and offered no guidance, leaving me to figure out the correct procedure myself. Had I filled out the form they provided, I would have been charged an additional 25% on top of my withdrawal. Essentially, I paid £150 just for someone to sign and date a document that I had to provide - there was no real expertise involved. For comparison, other solicitors we considered charged around £0-£50 for the same service—PLS charged three times as much and delivered far less. PLS also caused delays that ended up costing us financially. A simple failure to take proper notes during a phone call meant our process was pushed back, forcing us to pay an additional month’s rent. This wasn’t an isolated incident - phone communication throughout was unreliable and frustrating. After exchange, we encountered further issues. We were sent documents watermarked "DRAFT" and after querying we were reassured we just needed sign and return them. After doing so - having arranged a witness and everything - we were informed that the wrong documents had been sent and we needed to sign the final versions instead (without the "DRAFT" watermark). This was another unnecessary inconvenience caused by a lack of attention to detail. If you’re still considering PLS, be extremely cautious when using their portal. They frequently attempt to add a variety of additional absurd charges. In our case, we noticed unexpected extra fees added to our file, which were suspiciously retracted without explanation after we queried them. It gave the impression that they were testing whether the fees would go unnoticed. The PLS mobile apps were particularly poor - the save function didn’t work, and the forms differed from those on the web-based version, leading to further confusion. The web-based portal was slightly better, but not my much.