Gilson Gray LLP Edinburgh reviews

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!! We have just been through an extremely stressful time due to this firm being non contactable. My husband and I have just bought our first home and Gilson Gray were representing our seller who held up this sale for around 2 months. They lost documents and sent letters to the incorrect address several times despite my conveyancer giving them the correct address several times. The seller was so upset that she couldn't get a response that we had several tearful phone conversations, it was just awful! One good thing I will say about this company is Helen Hurst, once my solicitor and the seller started kicking up a fuss Helen took over from Marie and Thomas and got the job done. Thank you Helen the single good thing about this firm!

Tracy · 13 October 2024

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

The worst ever

The worst ever! I would NOT recommend this firm to anyone!I am shocked that our estate agent would recommend them to their clients. Communication was very poor right from the beginning, emails mostly ignored ( apart from the automatic response). both our sale and purchase were delayed by our conveniencer not doing stuff. There was no way of monitoring or following progress (or lack of) online. We delt with any requests from this firm on the day requested, only to find out responses "lost or mislaid".Moving day was a absolute nightmare and I was left in a distraught state. I emailed the firm for a progress update - automatic response acknowledgement followed by another automatic response saying that our solicitor was on annual leave! no mention of who was going to finalise our purchase! I telephoned the company and after 29 minutes my call was answered by switch board, who refused to put me through to anyone but would pass a message on. Hours passed with very limited communication, eventually we heard that our sale had gone through, but our purchase was was still pending! We were told that our purchase money had been transferred but the vendors solicitors had not received it! This went on for a couple of hours. Our estate agents both for our sale and purchase were also trying to help us resolve. I was sat outside the estate agents in tears and the removal company were waiting at our new house, at one point as was told that we "should get the keys by close of business that day!" Eventually our purchase finalised at about 1645hrs and keys were handed over.We accrued an extra £300 on top of our removal bill for waiting time. We have been in our new home for just over two weeks now, we have had no correspondence from solicitors, I do not have any documents regarding our sale or more importantly our purchase - nothing at all. Our bill for solicitors has been paid, with proceeds from our sale as has the estate agents, but no invoice provided. I am concerned about the lack of documentation. Gilsongrey should be closed down!

Tracey · 5 October 2024

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Avoid

I’m in the process of both buying and selling with GilsonGray as my conveyancer .As with lots of reviews their communication is absolute rubbish, they don’t respond to email or voicemails. I’m having to find out where we are at through the estate agent and then do all the donkey work to get the information needed. I was hoping to complete in August, still no completion date, tbh, I don’t even know if all the queries have been dealt.SORT YOURSELF OUT GILSON GRAY, call me with an update!!Complaint has been put in but I don’t hold out much faith! Funny how they respond to nice comments on trustpilot, they mustn’t be reading the bad ones or in denial. 0 star rating from me.

Sarah · 4 October 2024

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

All the reviews are true - I didn't want to believe them. Stay away

I was recommended Gilson Gray by my mortgage brokers L&C Mortgages who were brilliant at finding me a mortgage, and they have a service where they allocate you a firm from a rotating selection of conveyancers and give you the one with the least workload that's likely to be quickest to complete. They also provided free Buyer Protection Insurance if you go with their conveyancing referral.I saw all the bad reviews here, but I decided to trust L&C and go with Gilson Gray.How wrong I was. This is an absolutely awful company, who are unable to get anything done. The estate agent sent them a memorandum of sale and over 3 weeks later Gilson Gray still had not opened it. The excuse they gave was that because the estate agent sent it to my conveyancer rather than the office assistant, that's why it hadn't been opened. What a poor excuse.And they said they would make their best effort to contact the conveyancer to find the document. What? You can't contact your own colleague? How is any of this my problem? They were acting like operating like this is normal and that it's my fault or the estate agent's for sending it to the "wrong" person.There are a few other things that they messed up, but in the interest of keeping this review shorter than a novel, I'll leave it there.In the end, I bit the bullet and terminated my relationship with Gilson Gray, and moved over to a new conveyancer who are actually capable of doing the job I am paying them for.Moral of the story is: if you're one of the people like me, that looks at reviews but knows that you can't make decisions solely based on them, on this occasion you should please listen. Gilson Gray are terrible.Most likely the partners/owners at the top are running a barebones skeleton business so that they can extract as much profit as they can from the workers they exploit. Poor show.Avoid, avoid, avoid.

D.M · 4 October 2024

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

We were recommended by our estate…

We were recommended by our estate agents to use this solicitor. They have been very poor from day one. Emails not answered phones never picked up and when we rang reception and asked for a call back there was no response. My husband and I are elderly and not very computer literate. Even after our daughter(who has been helping us through this process) asked for paper copies of documents they still came as emails.Documents were mislaid and they kept asking for them even when told the date they were posted. Eventually turned up but no apology.As far as we are concerned customer service is non existent and we got the impression that we weren’t important.The icing on the cake was yesterday. Our buyers money was paid into our account but somehow they over paid us. They wouldn’t release the funds to the property we are buying until we repaid the money they had overpaid us. We have been unable to do this as we are in transit from one side of the country to the other. There is no way this is our fault so why are we having all this extra stress.This whole process has been so stressful . Not happy with any of it

Carol · 6 September 2024

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Avoid if you want a stress free experience.

I was recommended to this company to undertake my conveyancing by my estate agents. It is a simple sale and purchase with a chain of just two people. Maybe I should have read the feedback here first.My experience was awful, inept and a total lack of professionalism. How they are allowed to practice is a mystery to me. Emails were ignored, (even to senior partners), and mistakes were made and the whole process was very stressful. I no doubt my feedback will get the standard response …’Our clients are at the heart of everything we do, and we take your feedback very seriously. We have passed your comments to Gary Tyman (Head of Conveyancing) and Cherie McBean (Partner in Conveyancing) to ensure that your concerns are thoroughly reviewed.’They obviously don’t take feedback seriously. If they did their feedback wouldn’t be so bad. Contacting the above-named persons during the process is largely ignored I’m sure this will be too.Their feedback from their staff on the website 'Glassdoor' is also illuminating

Peter · 29 August 2024

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Avoid!

The same as many others have said, we are 4 days away from losing our first home because this company are just completely unable to do things in a timely manner. They don’t return calls so I have even sat in their office until someone actually speaks to me. They have missed things, delayed the process, I’ve ended up having to chase third parties for them. We are devastated that could lose our chance to finally buy a house in our 40s because they just don’t care. Complaints haven’t been dealt with or even really properly acknowledged so I will be going to the Legal Ombudsman. AVOID.Update in response to Gilson Gray’s response, Gary was already aware.

Carly-Emma · 8 August 2024

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

3 working days until I lose my dream home

Unfortunately my buyers chose Gilson Gray who just don't communicate or complete work in a timely manner and have added months to the conveyancing timeline. So much so that, unless we exchange in the next three working days, I will lose my dream home. My buyers made a formal complaint to the company weeks ago, it has gone to their parent company Optimus and senior staff are now involved, and yet still no progress. Everything is in place to exchange and yet they can't even get that contract out the door for signature. I am heartbroken at the thought of losing my dream home. I will be taking this to the Legal Ombudsman and encouraging my buyers to do the same if this is not resolved by next Wednesday.

Julia · 2 August 2024

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

I had the pleasure of working with…

I had the pleasure of working with Marika as my solicitor during the purchase of my first home, and I couldn't be happier with the experience. Marika was incredibly polite and understanding throughout the entire process. She patiently guided me through each step, ensuring that I fully understood all the legal details involved. Her expertise and professionalism made a potentially stressful situation much more manageable. I highly recommend Marika to anyone in need of a knowledgeable and supportive solicitor.

Attia · 11 August 2024

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Slow and unresponsive, holding up the entire chain

I am purchasing from a seller (in Bristol) who is using this solicitor. So far the process has taken 9 months with no end in sight. Everyone else in the chain is also waiting on them. They have been sitting on my solicitor's enquiries since March (it's now Sept), and are extremely unresponsive to attempts to contact them. (My solicitor tells me they've had similar issues with this company in other property sales. Google & other Trustpilot reviews tell a similar story.) If I'd known at the start what I know now, I'd have requested my seller to change solicitors.

John · 24 September 2026

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Warm, reassuring, trustworthy!

I've had such a warm, efficient, and reassuring service working with Gilson Grey (Chloe Harding, Emma Miller, and Rachel Greig from the Glasgow branch). Their communications were surprisingly fast and ever-concise, and I had full trust in them acting on my behalf when offering for properties. Onboarding was incredibly simple, and they're just all-round great people to deal with. Looking forward to finishing up the process in the new year!

Iain · 16 December 2024

★★★★★ 4/5

Trustpilot

Smooth process, could have communicated better

As a first time buyer Gilson Gray was recommended to me from a mortgage advisor. They were professional throughout, communicative in terms of response speed, and were upfront about the costs (and stayed within that). They settled my property purchase smoothly and at pace which I'm grateful for.

Reka · 21 September 2026

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Fantastic support throughout conveyancing process

Brooke was fantastic from start to finish during our conveyancing process. She was always quick to reply and stayed on top of all parties involved - ensuring the mortgage was set up, the required council requirements were in place, and that everything progressed smoothly so we could get the keys as planned (even earlier than expected - as a bonus!).

Ck · 20 February 2026

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

I was initially sceptical of using an…

I was initially sceptical of using an “in House“ conveyancer nominated by my estate agent but the whole experience has been extremely good,efficient and friendly. I was lucky to be linked with Alan Craig who was a professional and unflappable solicitor. I have been very impressed with Gilson Gray and should I need any conveyancing in the future I will certainly contact them. James

James · 18 May 2026

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

We would highly recommend using Gilson Gray to sell your property in Edinburgh. Megan and Lisa were fantastic with arranging all the pre-marketing materials and arranging viewings at a time that was convenient to us. Jenny was great with assisting us when receiving formal notes of interest/offers and negotiating the sale of our property at closing date. We we kept well informed throughout the process and everything was explained in plain terms which was incredibly useful during the sale of our first property. Jenny provided professional advice at every point and was always at the other end of the phone to help with any queries. Thank you so much to all at Gilson Gray!

Samantha · 17 May 2024

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

I received great service and advice from the North Berwick Estate Agent and Legal team so far in the marketing, sale and purchase throughout my house move. I special thanks to Lori, Abbie, and Rob from the Estate Agent team, and to Paula in Legal. It came at a surprise at how quickly my property went from being surveyed to receiving an offer (~2 weeks). It's no doubt thanks to the team's hard work and in particular the marketing material created, i.e. the photographs and brochure, which were beautifully put together. I especially liked the online client portal Gilson Gray provides so you can keep up-to-date with the sale process of your property which includes who noted interest, offers made, ESPC views, etc. If I was to nitpick it would be that communication internally could be improved upon at times. Examples of this are some e-mails going unanswered, a potential buyer not being informed of the closing date, and trying to book a viewing after the closing date was set. However, the very positive experience in general far outweighs these minor grumbles. Again, thank you all for your effort in making the stressful experience of moving house very straightforward.

Craig · 17 April 2024

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Highly reccomend

Frequent communication and updates were a huge relief as I was heavily pregnant during the process an this rather emotionally and mentally drained. The constant emails and progress reports were extremely helpful and comforting. Ms McBride was exceptionally patient and helpful and overall faultless

Megan · 8 September 2026

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Hannah Exton was our conveyancer

Hannah Exton was our conveyancer, she did an excellent job. Highly recommend.

Joshua · 21 May 2026

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

5 Stars

Can I say a massive well done and thank you to Nuria who was brilliant.It was a tight time frame of less than a month from offer accepted to entry.Nuria has been amazing, great communication and delivered on all promises, so impressed.Also, thanks to Jilly, in those early days when we were still house hunting, Jilly would continually check in and was really proactive in the journey to keep the ball rolling.Well done team and thank you 😊Andrew

Andrew · 30 March 2024

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Lisa Martin

I have recently been dealing with Lisa Martin on a difficult matter regarding my husband’s Estate and have found her to be extremely professional and kind. She explains things clearly and I am very grateful to her. Her service has been excellent.

Audrey · 17 September 2026

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Sammy Callaby was amazing with our sale…

Sammy Callaby was amazing with our sale and purchase and would highly recommend.

Sam · 7 May 2026

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Kirsten at Gilson Gray was great to…

Kirsten at Gilson Gray was great to deal with and made a stressful experience run as smoothly as possible. She was always available for any support and to answer any queries throughout the process. I'd highly recommend using her services.

Chris · 22 September 2026

★★★★★ 1/5

Google

Slow, inefficient, incredibly hard to get in contact with. We were ignored for weeks and completely left in the dark despite many calls and emails; we couldn't be able to see the house a second time till the date of entry because we waited basically until the last couple of days to finally end the missives; for this reason we were forced to accept any inconvenience and problems with the property to avoid any risk of not getting the house and being homeless, for real. All of this caused expenses that we would have been able to avoid if only we had the time to organize everything, spending a lot more money than expected for a house that we love but was full of surprises. They deprived us of the joy in the process of buying our first home, making everything incredibly stressful and complicated.

Marco · 16 November 2025

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Great experience with gilson and gray…

Great experience with gilson and gray from start to finish very helpful for every matter along the way. Made things smooth and easy as possible. Couldn’t recommend them enough for ever person I had dealt with was perfectly professional.

Andrew · 21 September 2026