Find an Approved Solicitor on the Precise Mortgages (Charter Court Financial Services Ltd)
Conveyancing Panel
FAQs for the Precise Mortgages Solicitor Panel
My wife and I are FTBs. Within the 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to sign with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Precise Mortgages have this evening contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is usual for the purchaser's solicitors to also act for the purchaser's lender.
In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme.
Your solicitors should contact Precise Mortgages and see if they can apply for membership of the Precise Mortgages conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable Precise Mortgages will instruct their own solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the Precise Mortgages conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
My partner and I intend to remortgage our maisonette with Precise Mortgages. We have a son 18 who lives with us. The solicitor on the Precise Mortgages conveyancing panel has asked us to disclose anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who reside at the property. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the apartment is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of concerns (1) Is this document specific to the Precise Mortgages conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we remortgaged 4 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this giving up his rights to inherit the property?
On the face of it your lawyer has done nothing wrong as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to Precise Mortgages .This is solely used to protect the Precise Mortgages if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave.
It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of Precise Mortgages had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.
Do all the licensed conveyancers and solicitor practices listed on your search have online case tracking as I understood that this was a condition of being on the Precise Mortgages conveyancing panel?
The Council of Mortgage Lenders or BSA do not require online case tracking. Some law firms operate such technology and some don't.
I am trying to get my former partner taken off the mortgage deeds. Can Precise Mortgages really tell me which solicitor I can or can not retain?
You can use any solicitor you like but Precise Mortgages then has the right to appoint a different solicitor to act for them at your expense. It might be more cost effective and quicker to instruct a lawyer who is on the Precise Mortgages solicitors panel
How can we tell if a solicitor on the Precise Mortgages panel is any good?
obtaining recommendations is a good starting point. Before you go ahead check if they offer a no sale no fee offer. Also you often get what you pay for - a firm which quotes more will often provide a better service than one which is cheap as chips. We would always suggest that you speak with the solicitor conducting your transaction
I recently had an offer accepted on a house. My mortgage broker recommended their conveyancers I paid an upfront payment of 225. Soon after the conveyancers contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Precise Mortgages conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Precise Mortgages panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
I have instructed a lawyer having made sure that they are on the Precise Mortgages conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
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Having digested plenty of mortgage guides,I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my solicitor - who is on the Precise Mortgages conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. Is that normal?
Precise Mortgages will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Precise Mortgages will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey.
You may wish to consider appointing your own surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.
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Your lawyer will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with Precise Mortgages you could contact your them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors.