Find a Law Firm
approved by PepperMoneyUK

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 property lawyers should contact Pepper Money (UK) and see if they can apply for membership of the Pepper Money (UK) conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable Pepper Money (UK) will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the Pepper Money (UK) conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

The short answer to your last question is that, notwithstanding the potential for a conflict of interest, you and Pepper Money (UK) are the client. A precondition to being on the Pepper Money (UK) approved panel is to comply with the CML Handbook requirements (last updated for this lender on Pepper Money (UK)). The CML Handbook conditions require your lawyer to disclose issues such as defects will the lease so that Pepper Money (UK) can be afforded the opportunity to check with their valuer as to the extent that the value of the property is affected . 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.

It is not clear why you need a Pepper Money (UK) panel solicitor but in any event, if you can not find one on our search tool you will need to speak directly to Pepper Money (UK) to find out which solicitors in Pepper Money (UK) are on their panel. If you do find such a firm not listed please direct them to our site to list. After all the cost is only one £1 a month

The first thing to point out is that, this is very unlikely to happen. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have ti instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by the regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit at a cost.

If you are getting a mortgage with Pepper Money (UK) involved you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Pepper Money (UK) conveyancing panel. We would not encourage you to both use the same solicitors' firm. There are clear conflict of interest issues and it's not going to make a huge difference to the speed of the overall process. So as not to hold things us you should pass on your solicitors details to Pepper Money (UK). Feel free to use our search tool to look for a licensed conveyancer or solicitor on the Pepper Money (UK) conveyancing panel.

You must advise Pepper Money (UK) prior to renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Pepper Money (UK)’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Pepper Money (UK) 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 Pepper Money (UK) directly. You need not do this via a Pepper Money (UK) conveyancing panel solicitor.

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