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Ready to buy a new home? Failing to check that a lawyer is on the The Mtg Business list of approved solicitors can put your transaction at risk of delay or failure.
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How does my firm apply to be on the The Mortgage Business Conveyancing Panel? How can my firm be reinstated onto the The Mortgage Business Conveyancing Panel?Find an Approved Solicitor on the The Mortgage Business Conveyancing Panel
The Mortgage Business Solicitor Panel Recently Asked Questions
I am progressing with the sale of my apartment and the estate agent has just texted me to advise that the purchasers are changing their property lawyer. The reason given is that The Mortgage Business will only work with property lawyers on their conveyancing panel. On what basis would a leading lender only engage with certain law firms?
Lenders have always had an approved set of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the past few years big names such as Lloyds Banking Group, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for more than 15 years.
Lenders blame a rise 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.
My partner and I intend to remortgage our flat with The Mortgage Business. We have a son 19 who lives with us. The solicitor on the The Mortgage Business conveyancing panel has asked us to disclose anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who lives in the flat. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the property is repossessed. I have two questions (1) Is this document specific to the The Mortgage Business conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we bought 4 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this giving up his rights to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your The Mortgage Business conveyancing panel solicitor is doing the right thing 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 Business .This is solely used to protect the The Mortgage Business 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 Business 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.
I see that you have a post code search directory listing solicitors on the The Mortgage Business conveyancing panel. Do firms pay you a commission if I retain them for my conveyancing?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the The Mortgage Business conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to the any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint.
Can you clarify what the consequences are if my lawyer’s firm is removed from the The Mortgage Business Solicitor panel before the moving date as agreed at exchange of contracts?
The first thing to point out is that, this is very unlikely to happen. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have ti instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by the regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit for a fee.
Are all solicitors on the The Mortgage Business conveyancing panel regulated by the SRA?
As solicitors, in order to be on the The Mortgage Business conveyancing panel they would need to be regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. Many lenders do allow licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such firms would be regulated by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers (CLC).
I have today made my last payment due on mortgage with The Mortgage Business. I assume I don't need a solicitor on the The Mortgage Business panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your The Mortgage Business mortgage they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the The Mortgage Business mortgage from the register. The Mortgage Business,and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
but are not moving to another property
where the The Mortgage Business has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
the The Mortgage Business has instructed the Land Registry to do so
The Land Registry will send you a letter confirming that your The Mortgage Business mortgage has been paid off.
I recently had an offer accepted on an apartment. My financial adviser recommended their conveyancers I paid an upfront payment of 225. Soon after the conveyancers contacted me to say that they were not on the The Mortgage Business conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the The Mortgage Business 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.
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Transfer of Equity for The Mortgage BusinessPlease note that Lexsure Ltd is in no way associated with nor affiliated with Lexsure Solicitors