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Free legal case studies

Journalist: Anna Sagar, Mortgage Solutions / Specialist Lending Solutions

ended 01. February 2023

Looking to speak to mortgage brokers about their experiences with free legals and if there any firms that they have dealt with they would or wouldn't recommend. 

  1. Who are the biggest free legal providers? Are there enough providers in the market? 
  2. What are service levels like? Any recent cases you have worked that have been good or bad. 
  3. What would your advice be to a client who can opt for free legals? 

13 responses from the Newspage community

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Craig Fish
Director at Lodestone Mortgages
Don't recommend free legal services, unless there are months of time to spare. Service is appalling, or at least it is with Optima Legal which is one of the biggest in the industry. We had a client due to remortgage in October 2022 and they finally completed it in Jan 2023, 4 months late and costing the client a lot of extra money in mortgage payments at standard variable rate. The client is currently seeking compensation for what should have been a straightforward transaction. I will no longer recommend free legal because of this.
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Justin Moy
Managing Director at EHF Mortgages
We have used O'Neill Patient for the majority of our Remortgage cases over the last 15 years or so. Service has always been very good and out of the thousands of cases they have dealt with for us, only a handful have needed any extra help. Using the cashback gives us the opportunity as the broker to be more involved and easily track progress. It also provides a very small income but that's not the main driver, that ability to jump in and push a case along with people you can build relationships with, rather than a nameless free legal provider, is so much easier all round. So we always recommend it, typically the cashback cover most, if not all of the costs, so it becomes a win/win for most remortgages.
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Mike Staton
Director at Staton Mortgages
I am a big believer in this industry that you get what you pay for, nothing is free. Cheap is a definition of quality as well as price. Anybody opting for free legals, that normally comes along with a trainee solicitor, needs to be warned in advance that the service may be less than they desire. AVOID! AVOID! AVOID!
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Emma Jones
Managing Director at Whenthebanksaysno.co.uk
This is a frustration for many brokers because if they decide to go back to the solicitor they used for the purchase they would likely incur a legal fee of £600 plus. When a lender then offers cash back it hardly covers it which can then mean the cost of remortgaging increases. We can then take the cashback option with some lenders and opt for fixed-price remortgaging through the likes of Sort Refer which means the broker has more control over the process. Service levels are tough with free legal but it goes back to the old saying "you buy cheap you buy twice". With a good broker on your side, they are happy to fight your corner and ensure you dont end up sitting on your lenders SVR whilst you wait for the remortgage to go through. I would also recommend applying for your remortgage early!
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Benjamin Blyth
Director at Houz Mortgages
Free legals can be a great draw for clients as long as they're not in a rush to remortgage, as the process of most firms can be slow and they can be hard to communicate with. That said, I recently did a remortgage application with HSBC which impressed me - this deal benefited from free legals. HSBC issued the offer within days, and less than 2 weeks later the conveyancing was complete. It was an excellent experience and has given me hope that service is improving in this space.

My advice varies by client. If there's any complication or a rush with a transaction, it's often best to get quotes and weigh up the cost of knowing what service you'll receive, as it can be a lottery.
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Mark Hosker
Mortgage Adviser at Cyborg Finance
"free" conveyancing is not truly free, as the mortgage lender pays the conveyancer. Due to the low fees paid by the lender, conveyancers have take on more cases and become overworked, leading to a dip in the quality of service. In many cases, "free" conveyancing makes it challenging to contact the conveyancer to discuss the case. As a result, many mortgage brokers advise their clients to avoid "free" conveyancing and instead opt for the cash-back option offered by the lender to engage their own independent conveyancer. My advice to clients who opt for "free" conveyancing is to take up meditation to help them deal with the stress that will likely arise during the process.
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Jonathan Burridge
Founding Adviser at We Are Money
You get what you pay for. Lenders expect a rock-bottom cost for a conveyance they pay for and therefore a firm has to run extremely skinny to make a margin. Unfortunately, that manifests into applauding service for the borrower. Fee-free conveyancing has been a financial services punchbag for years and I have been guilty of taking a swipe. If your client is in no rush, has no service expectation and the patience of a saint they might opt for a fee-free legal service. However, that is a one-in-a-thousand customer. Most lenders now offer a cash-back option, take the money and pay a conveyancer to do a job for you. It might mean the borrower has to pay £150 out of their own pocket, but, believe me, that is significant value for money compared to the stress and anxiety often coupled with the fee-free alternative.
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Natalie Hines
Founder at Premier One Mortgages
It's not fair to tar all fee's free solicitors with a bad name however that said I do prefer my clients to use the cash back options and choose their own conveyancer it just seems to work better.
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Joe Stallard
Director and Advisor at House and Holiday Home Mortgages
"Free legals"... a term that seems so enticing to a client, but fills most brokers with dread.

In all fairness, the majority of free legals cases tend to go through without a hitch. We tend to encourage clients to use these where their situations are more straightforward.

As with anything in life, you tend to get what you pay for. Clients need to understand that the business model of these firms is to stack 'em high, and therefore setting expectations around service is important.

When these cases do go wrong, they seem to spectacularly.

This normally comes down to communication. Get your documentation back swiftly, be proactive and persistent with communication and you should be ok.
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Rhys Schofield
Brand Director at Peak Mortgages and Protection
Avoid like the plague. Free legals is a by-word for pain and suffering. Your client will be fine 90% of the time but that 10% tends to mean missed exchanges, falling onto SVR and extra costs that can dwarf the nominal saving offered by 'free' legals.
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Scott Taylor-Barr
Principal Adviser at Barnsdale Financial Management
Free legals are great when they work, which sadly at the moment is not as often as they should. The market is dominated by a few very large firms, that have won business from lenders due to being low-cost, or leveraging other business interests that work well for the lender, but at the expense of the client. What makes it worse is that the lender is paying the bill, so delivering good service to the borrower or broker is of little to no concern to the conveyancer, unless the lender makes it an issue, which very few seem to. Good service and accountability have all been sacrificed on the altar of low cost.
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Austyn Johnson
Founder at Mortgages For Actors
Free legals are usually the slowest. Sometimes we have been surprised, but usually, these are best for no-chain or no-deadline applications. A cashback option is always best if possible.
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Hannah Bashford
Director at Model Financial Solutions
Free legals have given terrible service over the last 12 months.
I had a scenario where due to a mistake by the conveyancing company my client was going to be almost £60k worse off over 5 yrs- it has been resolved but my client is still chasing for a resolution to their complaint.
I would always advise clients to take cash-back over free legals as they are able to choose who to deal with then.
We don’t trust the large legal firms as they make too many mistakes and miss deadlines so we are always involved to make sure things go smoothly for our clients.
There have been some recent cases where things seem to be better and updates are happening in a timely manner but I would still be involved with the process for our clients as we know what should happen when!