Nationwide mortgage with free valuation & conveyancing. Do I need a solicitor?

harpoboy

You dont need your own solcitor. Use the Nationwide free one.

dj.boz

I am currently using a 'fee free' Nationwide Conveyancer, but wish I had done some homework. Whilst there initial 'Conveyancing fee' is free there other charges seem quite high (I am using there 'free' solicitors to purchase my next house, but already had a solicitor dealing with the sale of my current house).

kingstreet

amcg100 wrote: »

A solicitor appointed independently by the borrower would need to consider only the borrowers interests.

Not the case.

Your own appointed solicitor will also be acting for the lender, so there is no question of only the borrower's interests being represented. If the solicitor feels there is something untoward, he is equally compelled to report it to the lender if he is borrower-appointed, or part of a lender package.

caeler

I used took a nationwide mortgage with free valaution and free legal fees and I wish I hadn't! Don't touch the free legal fees with a barge pole! The company they use in Cheshire was a nightmare. It became the most stressful experience of my life and I'm not a first time buyer so have experience of the process. During the whole process I think I was called about 3 times and I had made dozen's of calls. They lost paperwork. I never got to speak to my case handler often getting others reading the notes made on my file which didn't make sense and were wrong most of the time. The online tracker was never updated so I had to call an 0845 number for updates. I wish I'd just paid the local firm of solicitors I'd used previously. In the end it would have worked out the same price as all of the other charges outside of what Nationwide paid for were much more expensive.

thelem

My experience was similar to caeler's, there were even occasions where I'd call up one day and be told something had been completed, then I'd call a few days later and be told that exact same thing hadn't even been started yet! They use lots of different firms though - the solicitors I was allocated were based in S!!!!horpe.

As they now offer cashback instead, I'd recommend claiming that and finding your own solicitor.

lambo28

My daughter is in the process of buying a house and submitted a mortgage application with nationwide also.

Do not use the free conveyancer provided by Nationwide, in particular LMS, Total Conveyancing Services (TCS) in Cheshire. I repeat do not use TCS. They can't even reply to simple, preliminary questions! She sent them a few questions 2 weeks ago but they still have not replied. She went back to Nationwide and asked for the £250 instead.

In regards to the surveyor, Nationwide uses Countrywide Surveyors. They are ok. She went for a homebuyer survey (£235). Report came back but not very detailed.

lb364

lambo28 wrote: »

In regards to the surveyor, Nationwide uses Countrywide Surveyors. They are ok. She went for a homebuyer survey (£235). Report came back but not very detailed.

They are using Countrywide for my valuation too but am getting my survey done separate as their reviews were also terrible. You'd think lenders would get the best people working on these things rather than the worst...or perhaps just cheapest...

moreofthegoodstuff

I am so far pleased with the solicitors. (Mine are based in Staffordshire which is odd considering I live in Cheshire- maybe I was lucky not getting the Cheshire company!) Wasn't pleased with Countrywide for the home buyers report, they did the survey on the 15th and we have only just received the report after chasing them. Not good considering we are going through a quick purchase and the home buyer report has brought a few things to light that we need to get quotes for therefore slowing the process down. The home buyers report cost £190.

kingstreet

moreofthegoodstuff wrote: »

I am so far pleased with the solicitors. (Mine are based in Staffordshire which is odd considering I live in Cheshire- maybe I was lucky not getting the Cheshire company!)

Grindeys, by any chance?

They have the capacity to handle the volume for a large market player like NBS.

Ms-Money-Penny

I'm not happy with Nationwide's solicitors either, bank holiday weekend and i wont be completing until Tuesday now and the house is standing empty. Was the perfect weekend but entirely wasted now. It was an easy sale i was buying a property part ex'd to Redrow so their purchase went through but im sat waiting.

Redrow offered their searches to my solicitors but they insisted on carrying out their own, even though the searches were weeks old.

Insisted on posting second class mail rather than by fax or email. They even posted letter to Nationwide when there's a dedicated fax line.