Saxton Mee (Hillsborough) were the…
Saxton Mee (Hillsborough) were the conveyancing estate agents on the sale of mine/my ex husband’s property, which was being sold due to divorce. Where to start… Despite being a seemingly straightforward sale and accepting an offer after the house was on the market for just 1 week, it took over 7 months to complete.
The first disappointment came when I received some awful viewing feedback on the house. Obviously the sale was not out of curiosity but a necessity, it was my dream house that I did not want to sell but had been put in a situation where I simply had no choice, so I asked my mum to go in branch for me, (as I work full time) to speak to the agent and tell them I didn’t wish to be included in the feedback emails. They told her “most people like feedback” and that “I was the only person who had complained”, making me feel like I was being awkward and demanding during what is one of the most difficult and stressful times of my life. They also scheduled a viewing for 3pm on the day that I couldn’t accommodate as I’d been at work and not seen their missed calls/emails, the house wasn’t suitable for viewing and I only just managed to cancel it in time, so I also asked my mum to feed back that I needed 24 hours notice for viewings, which is a reasonable request.
I then received a letter from my ex’s solicitor, and was horrified to read in it that they had stated my mum had “overly involved herself” in the sale and “obstructed the sale process.” She had also apparently “cancelled viewings with more than 24 hours notice.” I wondered how on earth they could know this information as it certainly hadn’t come from me and none of it was correct.
On the verge of a breakdown, the next day I came in to the branch after another sleepless night, and Tara (who had had no previous dealings with our sale) clarified that Shannon had in fact called my ex husband behind my back, and told him about my mum coming into the branch. It was in fact my mum who had recommended Saxton Mee to me originally and I was stunned. I asked why they had done this and what the purpose of this call had been, she simply said “we have to tell him everything.” Everything? Heartbroken and sobbing, I explained this information was of no relevance to the sale whatsoever and had now been completely misconstrued by my ex’s solicitor, effectively throwing gasolene onto the already raging fire. They just kept saying “we do understand” when clearly they do not, and that it’s hard to liaise with 2 people separately… Really? I lost all trust in them at this point as I wondered what other information was being passed on without my consent.
Tara promised me a call from Gregg, the branch manager, who called me the next working day and simply tried to make light of the situation – there was no apology. By this stage I had almost no furniture left as I had sold it all, and I had been eating my meals sitting on a camping chair with a fold up table for 4 months. Gregg said to me “I liked your little set up with the kitchen table.” 3 words- read the room. He then started asking me about my budget, and what sort of property I was looking for. He said he’d keep an eye out for me, in the whole 7 months he has sent me 1 house, which sold before I could manage to book a viewing. I asked Gregg to write a statement proving that the false claims made by my ex’s solicitor were not true. This had little bearing on the final result, as the damage had already been done.
My weekends, evenings and even days at work, were took up with reading and replying to emails (mostly from Shannon.) To date, there have been about 150 emails since the house sold. Most of which did not contain any kind of update and just said things were “being chased.” I have never known an estate agent be so involved in a house sale. She even tried to arrange completion dates (which the solicitor usually knew nothing about) and at times they were asking each other for advice, it was truly the blind leading the blind.
I’m afraid I cannot recommend Saxton Mee to anyone, getting divorced and moving house are both stressful enough separately let alone together, and they made this process even more stressful than it needs to be.








