What is the most preferred conveyancing option?

However, and in the current environment this seems more pertinent than ever, there can be some enlightening, engaging and genuinely interesting and informative ‘chat’ on there. And, while you might not wish to see or hear what others are saying about you, it can be a good option – once in a while – to pick that particular sore and search out some ‘feedback’.

Certainly, for businesses active within the property/mortgage chain, this might allow you to see what others think and it might well result in a change being required. Pop onto Twitter, for example, and type in ‘free legals mortgages’ and then look at what advisers have been saying over the last couple of years.

Let’s be blunt, it’s not often complimentary – they are not afraid to name the lenders or the conveyancing firms they believe are holding up their cases. Indeed, you don’t have to go too far back to witness something of a ‘Twitter storm’ – a combination of advisers and their clients getting increasingly frustrated about a ‘free legals’ situation which led many cases to drag on and on.

Talking of Twitter, we recently ran a poll on our account (@BConveyancing) which asked, ‘As an adviser, what is the most popular conveyancing option?’ with options for free legals and remortgage cashback. That poll is still running so I won’t pre-empt the results, however an adviser did get in touch and (quite rightly) suggested that the wording should actually be changed to, ‘What is the most preferred conveyancing option?’

The reason being of course that free legal options tend to be far more prevalent than lenders offering cashback on the remortgage. If there is no cashback option, then the free legals tend to be taken, however, if there is cashback, the adviser is going to be in a far stronger position to recommend their ‘preferred’ option, namely that the client take the cashback and they secure their own legal representation with that money. Lest we forget, when it comes to ‘free legals’ the conveyancer acts for the lender, not the client.

It was suggested that if more lenders were to offer cashback, then this would overwhelmingly be the preferred option for most advisers, simply because they are acutely aware of what they’re getting themselves (and their clients) into by going down the ‘free legal’ route.

Now, it would be unfair to tar all ‘free legal’ conveyancing firms with the same brush – I’m sure advisers will have plenty of examples where the process went relatively smoothly, however they’ll also know that when they go wrong, they can go spectacularly wrong, especially for non-vanilla cases. Plus, when that communication well dries up, it can take a lot to get any sort of water from it – it’s a drought that can keep going on for weeks and weeks. Again, go on Twitter, and you’ll find plenty of messages from advisers and clients requesting that the conveyancing firm involved simply pick up their phones.

Now, I’m not saying that every single business involved in this process should be swayed by the court of public opinion, but let’s just say that if that opinion is of those at the sharp end who are simply trying to do the best for their clients and want a relatively quick, and successful, outcome, then I think we should all be listening.

At the very least, we need more lenders to be providing the cashback option with their remortgage products, and then we can allow both the adviser and their client to decide from a position of strength. The adviser can use their experience and knowledge to ascertain which option would be more appropriate and they can make their client aware of both the benefits and potential issues that might be raised should they opt for ‘free’.

We fully understand why ‘free legals’ exist but ultimately let’s think about the end-client in all of this – are they truly getting the best service in these circumstances? Shouldn’t we at least be able to level the playing field to deliver a wider array of options? Perhaps lenders should listen to the voices on social media and the ongoing feedback, and see if, by offering cashback, we can deliver a better process for all and allow advisers and their clients to pick that ‘preferred option’.