Major conveyancing provider hit by IT breach says ‘systems now restored’

A leading supplier of conveyancing services to many well-known agencies has confirmed that its systems are back up and running after a major glitch last week.

During the run-up to the weekend, several national newspapers revealed that customers had been complaining of property sales put in jeopardy by problems at Premier Property Lawyers, which one of the key conveyancing firms that Purplebricks recommends its customers use, as do Yopa, Strike and Fine & Country.

Described as a ‘major security breach’, the IT problems forced the company to take several of its online systems down, leaving vendors and buyers claiming that their transactions have been left ‘in limbo’ and unable to proceed or complete.

The problems were not restricted to Premier, but also other conveyancing brands within its parent group, the Simplify Group. These include My Home Move, Advantage Property Lawyers, JS Law and DC Law.

Restored

The Simplify Group has now posted a message on its website saying that it has “restored IT systems sufficiently to enable clients to move. The good news is that almost all contracted transactions with a fixed completion date are up to date.

“We have been working non-stop and have substantially increased our customer relations teams to enable us to proactively contact almost all clients who are scheduled to complete.

“We had several days with minimal telephone capacity, but we now have around 300 colleagues making outbound phone calls to clients and this team, who will be working full-time, into the weekend, are calling every client with an update.”