Gil Howard Vilkas

Gil H. Vilkas is possibly the worst law office on Long Island to handle your real estate closings. I felt they lacked the tenacity to argue on our behalf: They made concessions on our contract that we were unwilling or ill-informed to make because of their lack of communication, even on the day of cl...osing. I felt like I was the intermediary between Gil H. Vilkas's office, our mortgage broker, our real estate agent, and our other real estate attorney. They were oftentimes unresponsive to simple requests that were made by our other attorney, and I became increasingly frustrated with every phone call I had to make to Gil H. Vilkas's office. They should have taken care of this without me; it was incredibly unprofessional. Their knowledge of real estate law was either incomplete, or they did not disclose certain changes in NYS law, causing headaches across the board for all. What should have been a routine closing turned out to be the most logistically stressful three weeks of my life.

I sold my coop apartment through Gil in 2012 for a fixed flat fee agreement. Even initially it was very difficult to reach Gil. Outside of this attorneys control my closing was delayed multiple times. I agreed to pay him a set amount for the first delay (almost tripling his initial fee). Gil... was still very difficult to reach and I spoke to his assistant (a guy) multiple times. My closing was delayed twice more - during which time it was almost impossible to reach Gil. Amazingly he became available the day before the closing actually happened and did not state anything out of the ordinary. At the closing he slams me with a bill - the total cost for his services was about $5000 when I initially agreed to a flat fee of less than $1000. He was deceptive in not displaying any additional charges to me until he knew I would not object as we were at the closing. Overall a very bad experience. Since this time I have read online other numerous horrendous experiences with this attorney. I would avoid.

Mr. Vilkas' original fee of $575.00 turned into a $400.00 nightmare. He charged me for the simplest of things that should have been part of his "fee"! The only word that describes him is "Disgraceful". My entire experience with him throughout this ordeal was sickening. I am very sorry I hired him and... would NEVER recommend him to ANYONE! This ordeal took a toll on my health.