Find a Law Firm
approved by Bluestone Mortgages

Banks have always had panels of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the past few years big names such as HSBC, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for decades.

Banks point to the increase in fraud by way of justification for the cull – criteria have been tightened and a smaller panel should be easier to keep an eye on. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels, or have other concerns about them. Some do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyer’s case. Your purchasers are unlikely to have any sway in the decision.

Anti-terror and anti-money-laundering rules require solicitors and licensed conveyancers to verify the identity of the person or body they are dealing with before they can accept their conveyancing business. The Terms and Conditions that you need to sign will no doubt confirm this. Your lawyer is right that Bluestone Mortgages also require certain documents to be viewed. If a you refuse to provide ID verification documents, your conveyancer would not be able to accept instructions from you. Your lawyer also has obligations to obtain certain documents in accordance with Bluestone Mortgages CML Handbook requirements last updated on Bluestone Mortgages

Unfortunately it’s not apparent why you need a Bluestone Mortgages panel solicitor but in any event, if you can not find one on our search tool you will need to speak directly to Bluestone Mortgages to find out which solicitors in Bluestone Mortgages 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

Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Bluestone Mortgages 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.

Banks and Building Societies such as Bluestone Mortgages can withdraw their mortgage offer although this is unusual. should Bluestone Mortgages withdraw their offer they may or may not inform you or the lawyer as to the reasons why. There are various possible reasons but here are a number of examples:

• If the borrower informs Bluestone Mortgages of a change in security address

• If the borrower informs Bluestone Mortgages of a change in the loan amount agreed

• Situations where information provided by the borrower that enabled the lender to make a lending decision is fraudulent, incorrect or misleading.

• If the lender reasonably suspects that the applicant, borrower, mortgagor or guarantor is involved in any criminal or fraudulent activity, including trading in illegal drugs or other substances, theft, robbery, deception or other serious offences, or if the applicant borrower, mortgagor or guarantor has a conviction for any serious criminal offence, including theft, deception, fraud, robbery or trade in illegal drugs or other substances;

• If the solicitor on the Bluestone Mortgages conveyancing panel acting for the applicant, borrower, mortgagor or guarantor cannot comply with Bluestone Mortgages ‘s instructions

It is probably the case that Bluestone Mortgages have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why Bluestone Mortgages may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing correctly and safely installed. It merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.

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