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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 Quality Scheme. Your solicitors should contact Investec and see if they can apply for membership of the Investec conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable Investec will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the Investec conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

Your lawyer is obliged to check with Investec to make sure that they are aware that the balance of the purchase price is not from your own funds. Your solicitor can only report this to Investec if you agree, failing which, your lawyer must cease to continue acting.

The solicitor and licensed conveyancing practices on our directory have assured us via an online form that they are on the Investec panel and agreed to advise us to take down their listing in the event of removal off of the Investec panel. To date we have not been informed by either a lender or a member of the public that the data about a specific firm being on the Investec conveyancing panel is not accurate.

If you have an estate agent involved then let them know straight away so that they can let the sellers know 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 Investec 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 solicitors should be in a position to help

Investec do not ordinarily instruct a member of their approved list of lawyers to deal with such a matter. If they did require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Investec list

Given that your lender is Investec your lawyer must to check the Investec conveyancing instructions contained in the Part of CML Handbook for Investec . The CML Handbook contains minimum requirements for solar panel roof-space leases, and solicitors are required to report to Investec where a lease does not meet these requirements. The requirements relate to the installation of panels on properties in England and Wales. The CML are developing guidance for Northern Ireland and Scotland.

If you have finished paying off your Investec mortgage they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Investec mortgage from the register. Investec,and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage: but are not moving to another property where the Investec has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and the Investec has instructed the Land Registry to do so The Land Registry will send you a letter confirming that your Investec mortgage has been paid off.