Find a Law Firm
approved by Magellan Homeloans

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 Magellan Homeloans and see if they can apply for membership of the Magellan Homeloans conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable Magellan Homeloans will instruct their own solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the Magellan Homeloans conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.

A precondition to being on the Magellan Homeloans approved panel is to comply with the CML Handbook requirements (last updated for this lender on Magellan Homeloans) which do require that your lawyer disclose any incorrect assumptions in the lender’s valuation report and the legal papers. 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.

The law firms listed on our site have advised us that they are on the Magellan Homeloans panel and agreed to advise us to take down their listing in the event of removal off of the Magellan Homeloans 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 Magellan Homeloans conveyancing panel is not accurate.

Different lenders have different requirements 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 Magellan Homeloans Conveyancing Panel Terms. It might be worth you contacting Magellan Homeloans directly.

No. There is no such tool on the Council of Mortgage Lenders or Building Society Association websites. Very few lenders make their panel listings available online.

Banks and Building Societies such as Magellan Homeloans can withdraw their mortgage offer although this is unusual. If Magellan Homeloans withdraw their offer they may or may not inform you or the lawyer as to their reasoning. There are many potential reasons but here are 5 examples:

• Amendments if purchase price adjusted and the loan to value limits exceeded by this. Please note that Magellan Homeloans conveyancing panel solicitors would be obliged to notify Magellan Homeloans of a change in the price of the property.

• Where the purchase price and borrowers direct contribution differ to details on the mortgage application form completed by the borrower

• Where to proceed with the Mortgage offer would be unlawful

• Following advice from the property assessor on their lender panel or If the lender has doubts about the effectiveness of the valuation as a result of subsequent events or information received post valuation but pre completion

• If the lender reasonably believe that the applicant, borrower, mortgagor or guarantor is insolvent or is about to become insolvent or has or will have a petition presented or if any one or all enter into any arrangement with their creditors generally or if any one or all should suffer a material change in their financial circumstances

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