Complaints Procedure

Statement

We are authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). We are committed to high-quality legal advice and client care and aim to offer all our clients an efficient and effective service.

Contact Information

However, if at any point you become unhappy or concerned about the service received, or about your bill, please inform us immediately, so that we can do our best to resolve the problem. As a starting point please contact the Fee Earner with conduct of your case, if you are unable to resolve the issue or if this is not appropriate, please reach out to our complaint’s handler Mr Abu Kibla, Managing Director by any of the following methods:

By phone:      0208 888 5225
By email:        [email protected]
By post:          Stuart Miller Solicitors, 247 High Road Wood Green, London, N22 8HF

Resolving Complaint

We are permitted 8 weeks from the date of your complaint to provide a resolution; however, we are committed to resolving your complaint in a much shorter timeframe as outlined herein:

Step One:

If you have not already done so, please make us aware of the full nature of your concerns. We would appreciate if you would kindly take the time to put all the issues you wish us to address, in writing, so we can focus our investigation only on issues which matter to you.

Step Two:

We will record the nature of your complaint and will send you an email/letter acknowledging your complaint within 3 working days. In this letter, we shall confirm what will happen next.

Step Three:

We shall undertake our investigation within 21 working days of sending you the acknowledgment email/letter. If for any reason the investigation cannot be concluded in this timeframe, we shall write to you and propose a revised timescale. We will prioritise your complaint the best we can and act as swiftly as possible.

Step Four:

Once the investigation is complete, we shall invite you to a meeting to discuss the concerns you raised and hopefully resolve the complaint.  This meeting will take place within 28 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.  If applicable, we shall write to you within 3 working days of the meeting to confirm our discussion and the solution agreed upon. If you do not want to or are unable to attend a meeting, we shall send you a detailed reply in writing, including any solution, within 21 working days of sending you the acknowledgement email/letter.

Step Five:

If you are satisfied with our response in either Step 3 or 4 above, the matter will be closed.  However, if you consider the complaint to be unresolved, you should contact the firm again and we will arrange for Mr. Majad Habib, another Director, to review the decision.   You will be required to provide reasons for your dissatisfaction, in writing. Thereafter we will write to you within 14 working days of receiving your written reasons, with confirmation of the firm’s final position, outlining the reasons and any final redress that maybe offered.

Step six:

If you are unsatisfied with our response/resolution, you have the right to contact the Legal Ombudsman for further resolution. The Legal Ombudsman will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case.

Unresolved Complaint

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint

As outlined above if you are unsatisfied with our resolution, you have the right to contact the Legal Ombudsman for further resolution. The Legal Ombudsman will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case.

Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first; only then can you take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:

• Within six months of receiving a final response to your complaintand
• No more than six years from the date of act/omission orno more than three years from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint. **

** Please note that from 1 April 2023 these time limits are changing.

From the 1^st April the Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made:

• Within a year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within a year of you realising there was a concern.
• The requirement to refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you remains the same.

If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them.

Visit:               www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Call:                0300 555 0333 between 9.00 to 17.00.

Email:             [email protected]

Address:         Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough SL10EH

Solicitor Conduct Concerns

What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour? 

The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.

Visit their website to see how you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.