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Ready to buy a new home? Failing to check that a lawyer is on the theMortgageLender list of approved solicitors can put your transaction at risk of delay or failure.
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How does my firm apply to be on the The Mortgage Lender Limited Conveyancing Panel? How can my firm be reinstated onto the The Mortgage Lender Limited Conveyancing Panel?Find an Approved Solicitor on the The Mortgage Lender Limited Conveyancing Panel
FAQs : The The Mortgage Lender Conveyancing Panel
I am progressing with the sale of my flat and the estate agent has just e-mailed to warn that the buyers are swapping law firm. I am told that this is due to the fact that The Mortgage Lender will only deal with property lawyers on their conveyancing panel. Why would a leading lender only deal with certain lawyers?
Lenders have always had an approved set of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the past few years big names such as HSBC, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for more than 15 years.
Banks blame a rise in fraud by way of justification for the cull – criteria have been tightened and a smaller panel should be easier to keep an eye on. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels, or have other concerns about them. Some do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyer’s case. Your purchasers are unlikely to have any sway in the decision.
Our solicitor has identified a legal deficiency with the lease for the flat we are buying. The seller’s lawyers have offered defective title insurance as a solution. We are happy with insurance and will cover the costs. Our lawyer says that as he is on the The Mortgage Lender conveyancing panel he must ensure that the lender is happy with this solution. Who is the client here, us or The Mortgage Lender?
The short answer to your last question is that, notwithstanding the potential for a conflict of interest, you and The Mortgage Lender are the client. A precondition to being on the The Mortgage Lender approved panel is to comply with the CML Handbook requirements (last updated for this lender on The Mortgage Lender). The CML Handbook conditions require your lawyer to disclose issues such as defects will the lease so that The Mortgage Lender can be afforded the opportunity to check with their valuer as to the extent that the value of the property is affected . Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your lawyer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for you.
I have checked your search tool I can't find the lawyer I was hoping to instruct as being on the The Mortgage Lender conveyancing panel. My lawyer has said that they are on the The Mortgage Lender approved panel. How can I be sure given that they are not listed on your directory?
Not all firms are yet listed on our lender panel search tool which is still relatively new. Law firms are listing on a daily basis and it is probably the case that your lawyer is on the The Mortgage Lender conveyancing lawyer and you should probably take them at their word. Please do feel free to suggest that they completing their listing on our site as it would only cost them £1 a month to list themselves as being on the The Mortgage Lender solicitor panel.
Can you clarify what the consequences are if my lawyer’s firm is removed from the The Mortgage Lender Solicitor panel prior to the completion date?
The first thing to point out is that, this is very unlikely to happen. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have ti instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by the regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit for a fee.
The for formalities of my remortgage has taken place with a loan from The Mortgage Lender. Conveyancing was of an acceptable standard but I would like to complain about The Mortgage Lender. How do I make a complaint?
All lenders have complaints procedures. Your first port of call should be one of the The Mortgage Lender branches or the Customer Services Team at The Mortgage Lender head office. In most cases complaints to The Mortgage Lender are sorted out very quickly. If you feel that the matter is not resolved you can write to the
Financial Ombudsman Service with full details of your complaint.
After much negotiation I have agreed a price on a house. My financial adviser suggested a solicitor I paid an upfront payment of 200. Soon after the conveyancers contacted me to say that they were not on the The Mortgage Lender 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 The Mortgage Lender 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 had an offer accepted on a house on the 20th February 2014, valuation was booked 4 days later, received a clean bill of health. Solicitor retained, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to The Mortgage Lender and chasing them on my offer I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the The Mortgage Lender conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?
Mortgage companies tend not to not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for The Mortgage Lender to deal with your lawyers application to be on the The Mortgage Lender conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitors will be accepted.
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Transfer of Equity for The Mortgage LenderPlease note that Lexsure Ltd is in no way associated with nor affiliated with Lexsure Solicitors