Optima Legal is one of the worst firms I have ever dealt with and I’m a solicitor myself so I’ve dealt with a fair few. They were appointed by the lender to deal with my re-mortgage and I instructed them to deal with a linked property transfer. They were appallingly incompetent. They clearly didn’t know what they were doing (repeatedly queried what was a standard restriction on the title deeds and they didn’t know how to resolve it). You can never speak to a lawyer, all you can do is speak to one of the ‘robots’ who answer the phone and they promise they will get a lawyer to call you but they never do. You send messages on the portal which take a minimum of 10 days for them to respond to. When they do respond they just repeatedly ask for information you have already provided. I told them on numerous occasions I wanted to make a complaint and threatened them with the Legal Ombudsman but still never received a response. I told them numerous times that the chain was at risk of collapsing and they didn’t care. I got better advice from one phone call to the Land Registry than I did in weeks of dealing with Optima. In the end I de-instructed them and instructed my own lawyers who managed to get the transaction completed within a couple of weeks. They’re basically a ‘factory firm’ who process multiple applications on behalf of lenders but they have no concept of customer service or client care. If your lender instructs them I would seriously recommend refusing to use them and pay a bit extra to use your own solicitors. It will save you a whole load of stress and frustration.