Q and A’s regarding the Atom Bank Conveyancing Panel from members of the public
I have just been informed by my mortgage broker that my property lawyer is not on the Atom Bank Solicitor panel. How can I be certain that this is indeed the case?
You need to contact your lawyer directly. You lawyer should advise you what has happened. If they are not on the panel they may recommend you to a firm that is on the conveyancing panel for Atom Bank.
I am buying a newly constructed flat and my conveyancer is informing me that she has to disclose incentives from the seller as her firm is on the Atom Bank conveyancing panel. I am nearing the developer’s deadline to exchange contracts and I have no desire to prolong matters. is my lawyer taking the correct approach?
You should not exchange unless you have advised to do so by your lawyer. A precondition to being on the Atom Bank approved panel is to comply with the CML Handbook requirements (last updated for this lender on Atom Bank). The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
Are there any apps to help find a local solicitor on the Atom Bank conveyancing panel? I have a car and am prepared to travel up to 20 miles to meet the conveyancer.
Feel free to make use of the find a conveyancing panel tool on this page. Please choose the lender and your location and you will see a number of lawyer located nearest you. Alternatively you can type in the name of your proposed law firm and see if they are listed as being on the Atom Bank solicitor panel.
We're in Wales, FTBs purchasing with a mortgage (lender is Atom Bank , but our solicitor is on the Atom Bank conveyancing panel). How long should the conveyancing process take?
The fact that your lawyer is on the Atom Bank conveyancing panel is a help. It would almost certainly delay matters if they were not. However, no conveyancer should guarantee a time-frame for your conveyancing due to third parties outside of our control such as delays caused by lenders,conveyancing search providers or by the other side’s solicitors. The time taken is often determined by the number of parties in a chain
Can you point me to a directory of Atom Bank panel solicitors on the Building Society Association’s Website?
No. There is no such tool on the Council of Mortgage Lenders or Building Society Association websites. Very few lenders make their panel listings available online.
I recently had an offer accepted on an apartment. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their lawyers I paid an upfront payment of 200. Soon after the conveyancers contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Atom Bank 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 Atom Bank 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.
My ex -wife’s name is on the Atom Bank mortgage of my property but not on the land registry. The apartment was transferred to me on our divorce many years ago by way of a sealed court order. Does my ex still have a say on the sale even though the land registry showing the property in my name alone? Will I be required to take her name of the Atom Bank mortgage in order to sell?
In terms of the Atom Bank mortgage, it is unusual that your ex-wife’s name remains on the mortgage but not on the title. It is conceivable that this is an oversight on the part of your conveyancers to ensure that her name was removed or even an administrative error on the part of Atom Bank in failing to update their data. In any event, it should cause difficulty providing her name no longer appears on the Land Registry title and you have a court order ordering that the property is transferred to you.
