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approved by ModaMortgages

You will need to have a conveyancer complete the legal work required when you take out a ModaMortgages mortgage to buy your property. They’ll carry out all the necessary legal checks on the property, make sure that you’re properly registered as the owner and ensure that all the necessary mortgage documentation is in place. You can instruct a conveyancing firm of your choice. However, if the firm selected is not a member of the ModaMortgages conveyancing panel additional costs will be incurred as separate legal representation will be required by ModaMortgages. Conveyancing panel applications can be submitted, so if your conveyancer has not previously applied for membership they can do so.

A precondition to being on the ModaMortgages approved panel is to comply with the CML Handbook requirements (last updated for this lender on ModaMortgages) which do require that your lawyer disclose any incorrect assumptions in the lender’s valuation report and the legal papers. 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.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders or BSA do not require online case tracking. Some law firms operate such technology and some don't.

If you have an estate agent involved then let them know straight away so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the ModaMortgages conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers should be in a position to assist

Some major lenders now use the accreditation scheme as the starting point for Panel approval such as HSBC and Santander. CQS membership however gives no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. That being said,the CML have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for firms wishing to remain on their approved list of firms.

On the whole 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 package

Mortgage companies tend not to not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for ModaMortgages to deal with your lawyers application to be on the ModaMortgages conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitors will be accepted.