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Q and A’s regarding the April Mortgages Conveyancing Panel
My wife and I are FTBs. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. April Mortgages have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
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 April Mortgages and see if they can apply for membership of the April Mortgages conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable April Mortgages will instruct their own solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the April Mortgages conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
We are getting closer to an exchange and my parents having sent the 10% deposit to my lawyer. I am now advised that as the deposit has not come from me my lawyer needs to disclose this to my lender April Mortgages. I am advised that, being on the April Mortgages conveyancing panel and acting on their behalf he must inform April Mortgages if the balance of the mortgage advance is not just from me. I disclosed to the bank about my parent’s contribution when I applied for the mortgage so is it really necessary for him to raise this?
Your lawyer is obliged to check with April Mortgages 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 April Mortgages if you agree, failing which, your lawyer must cease to continue acting.
Do all the licensed conveyancers and solicitor practices listed on your directory have online case tracking as I was under the impression that this was a precondition of being on the April Mortgages solicitor panel?
No. There is no CML Part 2 or Building Society Association requirement relating to online case tracking. Some law firms operate such technology and some don't.
My aunt passed away 10 months ago and as sole heir and executor was left the property. The house had a small mortgage remaining of approximately £8000. I want to have the title changed into my name whilst I re-mortgage to April Mortgages , pay off the mortgage etc. Is this allowed?
If you intend to re-mortgage then April Mortgages will insist on your using a conveyancer on the April Mortgages conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your April Mortgages conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the April Mortgages mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
Do conveyancing lawyers on the April Mortgages conveyancing panel work on a no sale no fee basis?
In the main there are no requirements by lenders for their firms to operate on a no-sale-no-fee basis. There a small number of lenders who operate a very restricted conveyancing panel managed by a third party company (often termed in the industry as a ‘gatekeeper’). That third party may impose certain conditions such as non-sale-no fee on the panel firms. If you require this as a condition of your conveyancing then you should check with the conveyancing firm that this is part of their service
Last month we had a mortgage agreed in principle with April Mortgages. Solicitors have been chosen? What is the average time that one could expect to receive a mortgage offer from April Mortgages?
There is no definitive answer here. Have April Mortgages done the survey? Have you advised April Mortgages as your lawyers details and checked that your lawyer is on the April Mortgages conveyancing panel? It is not unusual for a mortgage offer to take a month to come through
At last I have had an offer on an apartment accepted, the seller does however have a dependent purchase. The vendors have offered on somewhere, but not been accepted yet, and have viewings of other properties in the pipeline. My conveyancing solicitor has been instructed. What do I do now? At what point should I appy for the mortgage with April Mortgages?
It is usual to have concerns where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to be too out of pocket too early (mortgage application is approx £1k, then survey/valuation, conveyancing search costs, etc). First you should check that your solicitor is on the April Mortgages conveyancing panel. As to the next stages this very much depends on the circumstances of your case, desire for this property and on the state of the market. In a hot mortgage some buyers would pally for the mortgage with April Mortgages and pay for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they pay their solicitor to press on with searches.
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