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You will need to have a conveyancer complete the legal work required when you take out a The Mortgage Business 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 The Mortgage Business conveyancing panel additional costs will be incurred as separate legal representation will be required by The Mortgage Business. Conveyancing panel applications can be submitted, so if your conveyancer has not previously applied for membership they can do so.

Your lawyer being on the The Mortgage Business conveyancing panel is duty bound to inform The Mortgage Business of any changes to the purchase price. If you were to refuse your lawyers to disclose the reduction to The Mortgage Business then they would have to discontinue acting for you and The Mortgage Business.

The firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the The Mortgage Business conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from The Mortgage Business directly.

Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then inform them straight away so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the The Mortgage Business 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 solicitors may be able to help

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 service

Lenders such as The Mortgage Business can revoke their mortgage offer although this rarely happens. In the unlikely event that The Mortgage Business withdraw their offer they may or may not inform you or the lawyer as to the reasons why. There are many potential reasons but here are a few examples:

• The Mortgage Business may amend or withdraw an offer if the The Mortgage Business conveyancing panel solicitor is unable to confirm compliance with any of the conditions of the mortgage offer or if any of the terms of the mortgage offer cannot be satisfied

• Many mortgage offers have an expiry date. Your lawyer should check this. The Mortgage Business may amend or withdraw an offer before the end of its validation period if an offer extension is requested and following a re-evaluation of the property the value of the security is below a level which is acceptable to them.

• Amendments if purchase price adjusted and the loan to value limits exceeded by this. Please note that The Mortgage Business conveyancing panel solicitors would be obliged to notify The Mortgage Business of a change in the price of the property.

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

• Where to proceed with the Mortgage offer would be unlawful

Complaining to The Mortgage Business about their conveyancing panel is unlikely to yield much of a response. All solicitors and conveyancer must have a complaints procedure. Usually one can find this information from the solicitor’s or conveyancer’s website or ask at their office. They must tell you about it if you ask.

The Legal Ombudsman will make sure that your complaint is properly dealt with by the solicitor. It can also advise you how to complain.

If a licensed conveyancer does not have a complaints procedure or will not tell you about it, contact the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC), which will make sure that your complaint is properly dealt with by the conveyancer. Please see below for more information.