Smith and Partners Lawyers

"Nice clean offices..friendly staff...free parking outside office..."

"Happen to choose Bret Douglas Gower for a business purchase transaction, perhaps the most incompetent lawyer I have ever encountered, without a doubt the worst decision I have ever made in life. The vendors and landlord's lawyers involved had to correct Bret's mistakes while he was drafting the lease document, which was quite embarrassing given lawyers should be diligent & thorough while drafting. There was a lack of honesty and trust throughout the deal. At times he was unreasonable, short-tempered, frustrated and acted impatiently and wanted the sale transaction to be finished, without putting much emphasis on my legal rights or safeguarding my interests as his client. His advice was always vague, never direct, and critical information about the lease was either deliberately withheld or negligently undisclosed, depriving me of making an informed decision, which has put us in a very vulnerable position. The fact that I was not informed about the landlord's right to imply the 6 months bond (when part of the lease) on every prospective purchaser was an obstacle while selling the business and had a big effect on my mental health. It boils my blood that we were charged $7,200 for this sub-standard work by a junior lawyer, while selling the business we went through a different lawyer, it costed us only $2,200, she did an exceptional job in pursuing the landlord and finalizing the sale. I was expecting Smith Partners to have some sort of supervision on Bret's work, at the end of the day, they owe their customers a duty of care and it’s their clients who suffer due to substandard work. I believe Bret is in breach of the lawyers and conveyancers Act Rules 2008, I have complained to the law society raising my concerns about Bret Gower. My main issues with the lawyer are outlined below: Failed to identify the date of renewal accurately: There were issues with the dates on the assignment of the lease drafted by Bret. As per the deed of variation of the lease, the next assignment date was 15 April 2022, However, the assignment of the lease drafted by Bret on 30/07/2021 had 14 April 2025 as the expiry date, it did not have 15 April 2022 as a subsequent assignment date going by what’s on the variation of the lease. Personal guarantee for the lease: The landlord’s lawyer’s emails forwarded by Bret never asked for a personal guarantee in addition to 6 month's rent as a bond. Bret took the sale and purchase agreement un-conditional prematurely before finalizing the assignment terms with the landlord’s lawyer properly and notifying me, if he did his job right and made me aware of the personal guarantee in addition to the bond, I would have never gone ahead with the purchase. Bret brought the personal guarantee to my attention at the last minute when I went to his office to sign the lease, which I think was unscrupulous and dishonest. I had no option but to sign the lease because the transaction was taken unconditional by then. Bond for the lease Bret never disclosed the fact that once the lease is assigned with a 6-month bond, it would give the landlords the right to imply the same bond amount to the future tenant automatically when I sell the business. I found out about it when I was selling the business, as the landlord’s lawyer was trying to imply the bond on every prospective purchaser interested in buying the business, citing the bond already in the lease agreement. Change of business use: The landlords declined change of business use contrary to what was there in the standard law society lease. Bret failed to seek enough clarification or reasons from the landlord’s lawyer why the change of business use was declined arbitrarily. Bret persuaded me to continue with the deal saying everything will be alright once the lease is assigned and the vendors lawyer advised him that the usage can be changed at a later date. However, the landlords were not inclined to change the business use later when I raised the subject with them."

"Don't use this service if you are a first home buyer. We almost missed settlement because the lawyer did not draw down on kiwisaver funds. Lucky my bank came through. Even after settling we've had issues with notice of sale not being passed on the the council meaning I'm behind in paying rates. I've had a very stressful experience because of Jennifer Edwards and her incompetence. I do not recommend using Smith and Partners."

"We are first time home buyers who were looking to have a lawyer assist us with our kiwi saver withdrawal and to oversee the paper work. Wade Hansen was completely inaccessible and non responsive despite us trying to make contact so many times via email and phone. Would not recommend and have now gone with a much more helpful lawyer."