Q and A’s regarding the Adam & Company International Conveyancing Panel from members of the public
I am selling my house and the estate agent has just e-mailed to advise that the buyers are appointing a new property lawyer. I am told that this is due to the fact that Adam & Company International will only work with solicitors on their approved list. Why would a major mortgage company only work with certain solicitors?
Banks 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 Nationwide , have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for more than 25 years.
Banks blame a rise in fraud as the reason 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 hearing daily from firms 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 solicitor has discovered an inconsistency between the information in Adam & Company International’s home valuation survey and what is revealed within the conveyancing documents. My solicitor has advised that as he is on the Adam & Company International conveyancing panel he is obliged to ensure that the bank is with this discrepancy and is content go ahead. Is my conveyancer’s approach correct?
A precondition to being on the Adam & Company International approved panel is to comply with the CML Handbook requirements (last updated for this lender on Adam & Company International) 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.
I am Googling for online conveyancing estimates. Can I be assured that all the law firms that are listed on your directory are on the Adam & Company International conveyancing panel?
The law firms on our directory have advised us that they are on the Adam & Company International panel and agreed to advise us to take down their listing in the event of removal off of the Adam & Company International panel. To date we have not been informed by either a lender or a member of the public that the data about a specific firm being on the Adam & Company International conveyancing panel is not accurate.
My aunt passed away 10 months ago and as sole heir and executor was left the property. The house had a relatively small loan left on it of around £5k. I want to have the title changed into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Adam & Company International , pay off the mortgage etc. Is this possible?
If you intend to re-mortgage then Adam & Company International will insist on your using a conveyancer on the Adam & Company International 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 Adam & Company International 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 Adam & Company International mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
Hi, thinking about buying a house off my mate. Assuming we can agree a figure, what’s the best way to proceed? I plan to obtain a mortgage with Adam & Company International. Is there anyway to cut out the solicitors to save on the costs? My dad reckons back in the day he did a lot of it himself, just went into the land registry office and providing them with the info they needed himself
If you are getting a mortgage with Adam & Company International involved you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Adam & Company International conveyancing panel. We would not encourage you to both use the same solicitors' firm. There are clear conflict of interest issues and it's not going to make a huge difference to the speed of the overall process. So as not to hold things us you should pass on your solicitors details to Adam & Company International. Feel free to use our search tool to look for a licensed conveyancer or solicitor on the Adam & Company International conveyancing panel.
The mortgage over my property is with Adam & Company International. Conveyancing has been completed 12 months ago. If I am intending to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Adam & Company International?
Adam & Company International must be informed of your intention before letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Adam & Company International’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Adam & Company International will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Adam & Company International directly. You need not do this via a Adam & Company International conveyancing panel lawyer.
After much negotiation I have agreed a price on a house. My financial adviser suggested a solicitor I paid an upfront payment of 175. Soon after the conveyancers contacted me to say that they were not on the Adam & Company International 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 Adam & Company International 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.
