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approved by Virgin

That would more than likely be a wrong assumption to make. There are all sorts of perfectly reasonable explanations. A recent report by the solicitors regulator indicated 76% of law firms surveyed had been removed from at least one lender panel. The top 3 reasons are as follows: (1) lack of transactions (2) the lawyer is a sole practitioner (3) as part of the HSBC panel reduction (4) regulatory contact by SRA (5) accidental removal. If you are concerned you should simply call the firm and ask them why they are no longer on the approved list for Virgin.

The document is intended to provide information to the main parties engaged in the purchase. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the Virgin conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the valuer when requested.

The Developer will be required to start the process by downloading the form and completing it.

The form will therefore need to be available for the valuer at the time of his or her site visit. The form should be sent to the Virgin conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.

The law firms on our directory have advised us that they are on the Virgin panel and agreed to advise us to take down their listing in the event of removal off of the Virgin panel. To date we have not been informed by either a mortgage company or a member of the public that the data about a specific firm being on the Virgin conveyancing panel is incorrect.

It very much depends from lender to lender but many of the Terms and Conditions of Conveyancing Panel Appointment require the file to be held for a period of 6 years. That being said we have not seen a copy of the Virgin Conveyancing Panel Terms. It might be worth you contacting Virgin directly.

Some major banks and building societies now use the accreditation scheme as the starting point for Panel membership such as HSBC and Santander. CQS membership however gives no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. That being said,the Council of Mortgage Lenders have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for firms wishing to join their approved list of conveyancing solicitors.

You must advise Virgin in advance of letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Virgin’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Virgin will allow you to rent 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 Virgin directly. You need not do this via a Virgin conveyancing panel solicitor.

Virgin will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Virgin 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. or 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 Virgin you could contact your them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors.