Danske Bank Solicitor Panel Sample Enquires to our Call Center from members of the public
My partner and I are novices when it comes to buying a property. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to sign with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Danske Bank have this morning contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is usual for the purchaser's solicitors to also act for the purchaser's lender.
In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your property lawyers should contact Danske Bank and see if they can apply for membership of the Danske Bank conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable Danske Bank will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the Danske Bank conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
My fiance and I intend to remortgage our maisonette with Danske Bank. We have a son approaching twenty who lives with us. The solicitor on the Danske Bank conveyancing panel has asked us to disclose any adults other than ourselves who reside at the property. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the property is forfeited by the lender. I have two concerns (1) Is this document specific to the Danske Bank conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we purchased 5 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this giving up his rights to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your Danske Bank 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 Danske Bank .This is solely used to protect the Danske Bank 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 Danske Bank 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 identifying firms on the Danske Bank conveyancing panel. Do firms pay you a referral fee if I retain them for my own conveyancing?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the Danske Bank conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to the any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint.
Please explain the implications if my lawyer’s firm is suspended from the Danske Bank Conveyancing panel before completion?
First, 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.
Can I be sure that the solicitor on the Danske Bank panel is any good?
Getting recommendations is a good starting point. Before you go ahead check if they offer a no sale no fee offer. Also you often get what you pay for - a firm which quotes more will often provide a better service than one which is cheap as chips. We would always recommend that you speak with the solicitor carrying out your transaction
I have a mortgage with Danske Bank. My godfather retired last week and wants to pay off the mortgage left on the property. After Danske Bank is paid, I want to transfer the property to my mother's name; How long will it roughly take? Do we need two separate solicitors on the Danske Bank conveyancing panel? I do not intend to live at the property once the Danske Bank mortgage is discharged.
You
will need a solicitor but they need not be on the Danske Bank conveyancing panel.
You will need a solicitor to draw up the transfer and
to deal with the Land Registry formalities. The only thing you need to
consider is that by selling at an undervalue so ask your lawyer about
the implications. There could be an inheritance tax issue if you die
within 7 years of this. There's no capital gains tax for you as it is
your main residence.
After shopping around on the internet I have found a solicitor having made sure that they are on the Danske Bank conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
Or
I've digested plenty of mortgage guides,I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my solicitor - who is on the Danske Bank conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. is that correct?
Danske Bank will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Danske Bank will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey.
You may wish to consider appointing your own surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.
or
Your lawyer will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with Danske Bank you could contact your them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors.