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No, not really. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the Pepper Money conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. Another option that might be available is for your solicitors to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Pepper Money

All property lawyers on the Pepper Money conveyancing panel would need to check that the following risks are covered fire; lightning; aircraft; explosion; earthquake; storm; flood; escape of water or oil; riot; malicious damage; theft or attempted theft; falling trees and branches and aerials; subsidence; heave;landslip;collision;accidental damage to underground services;professional fees, demolition and site clearance costs; and public liability to anyone else. There are some other issues such as the level of excess that are set out in Pepper Money’s Part 2 requirements of the CML Handbook (last updated on Pepper Money). Being on the Pepper Money conveyancing panel your lawyer is expect to follow these instructions.

The firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Pepper Money conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Pepper Money directly.

Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Pepper Money conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. it might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their requirements fairly frequently at the moment.

You should start obtaining conveyancing quotes from solicitors ASAP. After you have chosen your lawyer and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and pass their details on the the EA. As you are getting a mortgage with Pepper Money , ask your prospective lawyers check they are on the Pepper Money conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.

You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Pepper Money panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.

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