Levin Law Group, PLLC

Mr. L[redacted] office helped me close on a house in Long Island. Very professional staff and great service. On hold music is amazing. Highly recommend.

Review: I hired Levin Law Group to act as my attorney for the sale of my condo apartment in [redacted] and purchase of a home in Merrick. Part of the home-purchase transaction involved Levin Law Group sending a land survey performed on the Merrick home to my bank's attorney. On June *, 2015, Levin Law Group contacted me about obtaining a survey for the Merrick home. I obtained a copy of the survey and emailed it to Levin Law Group on June *, 2015. I have a copy of the sent email and survey.

With Levin Law Group, I closed on the sale of the [redacted] condo on July **, 2015. Part of the conditions of that sale were that if I did not vacate the [redacted] premises by August [redacted], I would incur penalty payments of $250/day thereafter until I vacated. In order to vacate the premises, I needed to close on the Merrick home purchase so I could move into that home.

On the afternoon of July [redacted], I contacted Levin Law Group and asked if the firm had been in touch with my bank. I reminded them I needed to vacate my condo by August [redacted] or face penalty payments. The reply was, “Nothing on the purchase yet.”

Thereafter, I called my bank's attorney and was informed no one from Levin Law Group had reached out to the law firm in “a while.” I informed Levin Law Group of my finding - they replied:

"Closing tomorrow is NOT possible. Your schedule is not the only one involved. AND the lender is not clear to close AND it is not true that we didn’t call them AND closing cannot be scheduled until the lender is ready. So, you want to call somebody, call the lender….Please speak to XXX regarding coordinating the closing…"

On July **, I spoke with "XXX," Levin Law Group's closing coordinator. She said my bank was “not ready to close,” and offered no additional information. On July [redacted], after no further update, I called Levin Law Group at least five times, once an hour, and left messages each time with the receptionist; XXX never returned a call. That evening, Levin Law Group emailed me the following:

"Todd, the bank is NOT ready to close. The bank attorney said they cannot schedule and are not clear on their end."

On July [redacted] at 9:42 p.m., XXX sent me an email which stated:

"I have been in contact with your bank attorney and the sellers [sic] attorney. We are still waiting on Nassau County to provide a Certificate of Occupancy. We can NOT CLOSE without it."

I ended up dismissing Levin Law Group and hired another attorney who quickly discovered Levin Law Group failed to send the Merrick survey to the title company. Furthermore, she discovered there was no issue regarding the Certificate of Occupancy. The sole hold-up in the Merrick home-purchase transaction was the missing survey (which I sent to Levin Law Group in June).

Resultant of Levin Law Group's failure to send the survey to the title company and communicate effectively with the parties involved in the transaction (which may have lead to a more timely discovery of the survey’s absence from the title company’s possession), I was forced to remain in the [redacted] condo for longer than necessary and incurred penalty payments of $3,643.66. In a letter, I requested Levin Law Group reimburse me for the penalty incurred. Levin Law Group denied my request and blamed the delay on my firing the Levin Law Group, hiring a new attorney, and switching title companies. My position: had Levin Law Group sent over the survey to the title company, or at least, discovered its absence from the title company's possession, I would have been able to close on the Merrick home timely, would not have been forced to hire a new attorney, and would not have incurred over three-thousand dollars in penalty payments.Desired Settlement: A refund in the amount of $3,643.66.

Business

Response:

Unfortunately due to ethics rules, I cannot disclose certain information about the client, but the client was not happy with our services and retained a different attorney. That was his right to do. His primary complaint is that my office never forwarded a copy of the survey he allegedly sent to us to the title company and because of this his closing was delayed. HOWEVER, his new attorney did not use the title company to whom the client claims we should have sent the survey. So if a survey was sent, it would be IRRELEVANT as that was not the company used. The NEW company still did not have the survey that his NEW attorney was supposed to send, which supposedly delayed his closing. Please note that he closed 2 weeks after retaining a new lawyer. We would have been able to close within a few days.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because: Levin Law Group says I "allegedly" emailed the survey. That is a false argument in that I have documentation of emailing the survey to the Firm. The question is, did the Firm 1) receive the emailed survey? 2) not receive the emailed survey? If they received the survey I emailed, they failed to forward it to the title company, causing the delay in setting up the closing. If they did not receive the survey I emailed, they failed to discover its absence in the transaction because they were not effectively communicating with the parties involved in the transaction. Had Levin Law Group either sent the survey timely to the title company or discovered its absence timely, I would have been able to close on my home purchase well before August **.

Had Levin Law Group been in effective contact with my Bank, they would know my Bank mandated an 8-day rate lock-in period, meaning, once all the pieces of the transaction were in place (including the survey being in receipt by the title company), the Bank locks-in the mortgage rate and will not close until 8 days has past. To say I would have been able to close the day after the title company received the survey is simply incorrect. Solidifying my argument that Levin Law Group was not effectively communicating with the parties involved in the transaction, they failed to identify this 8-day lock-in period in their answer to my Revdex.com complaint. What Levin Law Group has not addressed is the multitude of excuses the Firm sent me between July [redacted] and July [redacted] justifying the delay in my closing, none of which address the key issue: the title company was not in receipt of the survey. As per Levin Law Group: 1) “Closing tomorrow is not possible. Your schedule is not the only one involved”; 2) “The lender is not clear to close”; 3) “The bank attorney said they cannot schedule and are not clear on their end”; 4) “We are still waiting on Nassau County to provide a Certificate of Occupancy.”

My new attorney changed title companies because the original one refused to accept the existing survey done on the property; they wanted me to purchase a new survey. My new attorney was able to find another title company that did accept the existing survey. However, due to my Bank’s rate lock-in period, I was forced to wait 8 days after all the pieces of the transaction were in place. Again, had Levin Law Group sent the survey to the title company or discovered its absence timely, even with the 8-day rate lock-in period, I would have closed timely and not incurred penalty payments.

Sincerely,[redacted]

Business

Response:

The former client wants us to cover the cost of his choices in retaining a new attorney and his new attorney not being able to close for WEEKS. We did NOT complete this transaction. Our services were terminated. There was a new survey order in process at the time the former client terminated our services. That survey would be done within 24 hours. The surveyor was notified and the survey cancelled. On our end, we would be clear to close the next day once we had the survey. No correspondence was conducted with the bank after we were fired, so I have no knowledge of what went on. Normal businesses do not continue work after being fired. Please note that this client was NEVER billed for our services. Legally we are entitled to get compensated for the work performed. We did not bill this client. Title company that he ended up NOT using did not bill this client. Yet he wants our office to pay for his choices in switching attorneys. Former client wants our office to go through every single email to determine why a particular email wasn't answered. I think there may be some confusion on when our representation ended. It ended when we were fired.

Review: on may [redacted] 2013,I used their lawyer services to close on a home, as a PBA member, what monies I paid in lawyers fees the PBA will reimbursed, now according to the PBA the check was sent out to the office since in December month 2013 ,and since then I've been calling the office and leaving messages with no return, I visit the office with no luck. I cannot get in touch with the lawyer, neither the [redacted] who knows what's going on with my case.Lawyer [redacted] and [redacted] is [redacted]Desired Settlement: please forward the check to me, because the lawyer fees was paid for already

Business

Response:

Our office accepts PBA vouchers (which is a coupon provided by the PBA for legal services). Client paid our fee upfront and was promised to get the refund for the voucher ($600) once the refund was sent by the PBA (a police union). it took almost 8 months to get the refund from the PBA. We received it in late January. The claimant claims we received in December, which is the date PBA processed the refund, however we received it in January. A refund check has been sent last week. Client has called every month since May, but we never received the funds. As much as I understand his frustration, it should be aimed towards his union for taking so long to process his voucher.

Just to clarify, the refund has been sent last week and the client should receive it any day now.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

I am currently awaiting the check as promised. How ever it is bad business practices from the firm. I went there once from my busy schedule after about six months of purchasing the home and called like 4 times , in which I can only speak to the [redacted] cause lawyer never available. They usually take my messages but never returned any. I am not the only one who has complaint with this firm. As told there are lots of clients who lable this firm as bad business practices. I decided not to call any more and to file this claim so hopefully their customer service will improve.

In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

Sincerely,

Consumer

Response:

At this time, my complaint, ID [redacted] regarding Law offices of Yevgeny Levin has been resolved.

(By clicking "OK", your complaint will be closed as Resolved.)

Sincerely,