Nationwide's free legal fees for a FTB mortgage?

bournejason7629

Have just had an offer accepted on my first property and am trying to get stuck into finding a mortgage as soon as possible. I'm quite liking the look of the Nationwide Flexclusive: A 4 year fixed rate mortgage for a First Time Buyer, which I saw online. One of the perks of it would be the following:

You can get free standard legal fees if you choose our licensed conveyancer or you can have £250 cashback within one month of completion.

I'd be interested in the free standard legal fees in particular. However, I chatted to London & Country Mortgages today to get me some other quotes, and the guy specifically told me that no lender offers a free legal service for first time buyers, and that it was very misleading.

I'm going to talk to Nationwide about the mortgage tomorrow to get more info, but can anyone confirm whether or not this is true?

stator

Sounds like they (T&C) were talking !!!!!!!!

Free legal fees isn't quite as good as it sounds since it doesn't include disbursements. I'd be inclined to take the cashback and use a conveyencer that you chose with a good reputation.

bournejason7629

Thanks for that. So you're talking about the search fees, land registry fees (200 pounds I think), Stamp Duty (100 pounds for me) etc? Definitely food for thought

Just wanted to sense check as I was pretty sure that some lenders were offering the free legal service.

stator

I don't see why it wouldn't apply to FTB. It might be different if it was for Help To Buy Equity Loan, or something else complicated. But a normal Freehold purchase for a FTB is no different to a second time mover.