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approved by GenH

No, not really. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the Gen H conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Gen H

Unfortunately both you and your lawyer have little choice here. Given that you are taking out a loan with Gen H your lawyer has to comply with their conditions as set out in their version of the CML Conveyancing Handbook. Your lawyer would have previously signed the Terms and Conditions of Gen H’s conveyancing panel appointment which obliges them to follow the CML Handbook requirements last updated Gen H. even if you were a cash buyer you would be ill advised not to carry out a local authority search.

You can use the find a conveyancing panel search on this website. Please choose the lender and your location and you will see a number of lawyer located nearest you. Alternatively you can type in the name of your proposed law firm and see if they are listed as being on the Gen H solicitor panel.

If you have an estate agent involved then inform them immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Gen H conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers should be in a position to assist

You must advise Gen H prior to letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Gen H’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies will permit you to let out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Gen H directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Gen H conveyancing panel solicitor.

Almost all banks and building societies have complaints procedures. Your first port of call should be one of the Gen H branches or the Customer Care Department at Gen H head office. We understand that complaints to Gen H are resolved very quickly. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is resolved you can write to the Financial Ombudsman Service who will take matters further.

A limited percentage of Hendon conveyancing firms are on the Gen H conveyancing panel. 7 people a month use our search tool to search for a Hendon conveyancing practitioner on the on the Gen H list of approved conveyancing firms.