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The Mortgage Lender and other lenders tend to restrict either the type or the number of conveyancing solicitors on their approved list of lawyers. Typical examples of such restriction(s) being that a firm must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some have decided to limit the number of firms they use to represent them. You should note that The Mortgage Lender have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any member of The Mortgage Lender Conveyancer Panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of conveyancing panels a few years ago and whilst there are differing views about the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms only carry out one or two conveyances a year. Those supporting conveyancing panel cuts ask why law firms should have the right to be on a Lender panel when clearly, Conveyancing is not their speciality? To put it another way; would you want a conveyancing solicitor to represent you if you were charged with a crime; probably not.

On the face of it your lawyer has done nothing wrong as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to The Mortgage Lender .This is solely used to protect the The Mortgage Lender if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave.

It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of The Mortgage Lender had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.

Unfortunately it’s not apparent why you need a The Mortgage Lender panel solicitor but in any event, if you can not find one on our search tool you will need to speak directly to The Mortgage Lender to find out which solicitors in The Mortgage Lender are on their panel. If you do find such a firm not listed please direct them to our site to list. At a fee of one pound per month it is not expensive to register on the site

There is nothing to stop you using your solicitor but The Mortgage Lender will insist on their interests being represented by a firm on their conveyancing panel. There is much more potential for delays and confusion with an additional lawyer added to the mix, and it will undoubtedly be more expensive too.

As solicitors, in order to be on the The Mortgage Lender conveyancing panel they would need to be regulated by the SRA. Many lenders do allow licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such firms would be regulated by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers (CLC).

Your lawyer has to follow the CML Handbook Part 2 requirements for The Mortgage Lender. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that The Mortgage Lender will go ahead your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask The Mortgage Lender to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the remaining number of years left on the lease.

In terms of the The Mortgage Lender mortgage, it is unusual that your ex-wife’s name remains on the mortgage but not on the title. It is conceivable that this is an oversight on the part of your conveyancers to ensure that her name was removed or even an administrative error on the part of The Mortgage Lender in failing to update their data. In any event, it should cause difficulty providing her name no longer appears on the Land Registry title and you have a court order ordering that the property is transferred to you.