Find an Approved Solicitor on the Accord Mortgages Ltd
Conveyancing Panel
FAQs for the Accord Mortgages Conveyancing Panel
My fiance and I are FTBs. Within the 48 hours our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Accord Mortgages have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue 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 Accord Mortgages and see if they can apply for membership of the Accord Mortgages conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable Accord Mortgages will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the Accord Mortgages conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
can you help? My conveyancer is informing me me that she is duty-bound to conduct a Local Authority search because the firm are on the Accord Mortgages conveyancing panel. Is my lawyer correct?
Unfortunately both you and your lawyer have little choice here. As you are taking a mortgage with Accord Mortgages 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 Accord Mortgages’s conveyancing panel appointment which obliges them to follow the CML Handbook requirements last updated Accord Mortgages. even if you were a cash buyer you would be ill advised not to carry out a local authority search.
Having used your search tool I can't find the lawyer I was hoping to instruct as being on the Accord Mortgages conveyancing panel. My lawyer has said that they are on the Accord Mortgages 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 Accord Mortgages 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 Accord Mortgages solicitor panel.
We're in Birmingham, First timers purchasing with a mortgage (lender is Accord Mortgages , but our lawyer is on the Accord Mortgages conveyancing panel). How long should the conveyancing process take?
The fact that your lawyer is on the Accord Mortgages conveyancing panel is a help. It would almost certainly delay matters if they were not. However, no conveyancer should guarantee a time-frame for your conveyancing due to third parties outside of our control such as delays caused by lenders,conveyancing search providers or by the other side’s solicitors. The time taken is often determined by the number of parties in a chain
We have agreed to purchase a house.One unusual aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Solicitors conducting should look into this right? Will my lender Accord Mortgages be concerned
Given that your lender is Accord Mortgages your lawyer must to check the Accord Mortgages conveyancing instructions contained in the Part of CML Handbook for Accord Mortgages . The CML Handbook contains minimum requirements for solar panel roof-space leases, and solicitors are required to report to Accord Mortgages where a lease does not meet these requirements. The requirements relate to the installation of panels on properties in England and Wales. Requirements for Scotland are due in the near future.
On the whole I have been dissatisfied with the level or service received from my lawyer. Is there a Accord Mortgages conveyancing panel complaints department or do I complain directly to the law firm?
There is little point in complaining directly to Accord Mortgages. Every solicitor firm and conveyancer must have a complaints procedure. Usually one can find this information from the solicitor’s or conveyancer’s website or ask at their office. They must tell you about it if you ask.
The Legal Ombudsman will make sure that your complaint is addressed by the solicitor. It can also advise you how to complain.
If a licensed conveyancer does not have a complaints procedure or will not tell you about it, contact the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC), which will make sure that your complaint is properly dealt with by the conveyancer. Please see below for more information.
At last I have had an offer on an apartment accepted, but there is a chain. The vendors have offered on somewhere, but not been accepted yet, and have viewings of other properties booked. My conveyancing solicitor has been instructed. What do I do now? At what point should I appy for the mortgage with Accord Mortgages?
It is usual to have concerns where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to be too out of pocket too early (mortgage application is approx £1k, then survey/valuation, conveyancing search costs, etc). First you should check that your solicitor is on the Accord Mortgages conveyancing panel. As to the next stages this very much depends on the circumstances of your case, desire for this property and on the state of the market. In a hot mortgage some buyers would pally for the mortgage with Accord Mortgages and pay for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they pay their solicitor to press on with searches.