Godiva Mortgages Conveyancing Panel Recently Asked Questions from members of the public
For what reasons would a firm of solicitors be excluded from the Godiva Mortgages solicitor panel?
A survey recently commissioned by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority found that three quarters of law firms had been excluded from a lender panel. The most common reasons in order are :
- Low volume of transactions
- the lawyer is a sole practitioner
- as part of the HSBC panel reduction
- regulatory contact by SRA
- accidental removal. We are not aware of the specific or common criteria for removal by Godiva Mortgages
My wife and I changing mortgage lender for our penthouse with Godiva Mortgages. We have a son 19 who lives with us. The solicitor on the Godiva Mortgages conveyancing panel has asked us to disclose anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who reside at the property. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the apartment is repossessed. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this form unique to the Godiva Mortgages conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we remortgaged 4 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this giving up his rights to inherit the property?
On the face of it your lawyer has done nothing wrong 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 Godiva Mortgages .This is solely used to protect the Godiva Mortgages 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 Godiva Mortgages 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 require the services of a Godiva Mortgages panel solicitor in Belfast. Could you help me?
It is not clear why you need a Godiva Mortgages panel solicitor but in any event, if you can not find one on our search tool you will need to speak directly to Godiva Mortgages to find out which solicitors in Godiva Mortgages are on their panel. If you do find such a firm not listed please direct them to our site to list. At a fee of one pound per month it is not expensive to register on the site
My house is up for sale and I have a buyer. Does my solicitor have to be on the Godiva Mortgages conveyancing panel in order to deal with paying off my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Godiva Mortgages conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. it might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their requirements fairly frequently at the moment.
Is the case that all CQS (Conveyancing Quality Scheme) solicitors on the Godiva Mortgages conveyancing panel?
Some major banks and building societies now use CQS as the starting point for Panel membership such as HSBC and Santander. The Law Society’s CQS accreditation however gives no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. That being said,the Council of Mortgage Lenders have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for firms wishing to remain on their approved list of conveyancing solicitors.
Can I be sure that the solicitor on the Godiva Mortgages panel is any good?
seeking recommendations is a sensible 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 advocate that you speak with the lawyer handling your transaction
Sometime soon me and my wife are taking a long lease of a flat in Hendon. Conveyancing solicitors in Hendon are preferred to beappointed. My colleagueadvised that we enquire that the conveyancer in Hendon is on the Godiva Mortgages solicitors panel. Is this really necessary?
Not all Hendon conveyancing firms are on the Godiva Mortgages conveyancing panel. 8 people a month use our search tool to locate a Hendon conveyancing solicitor on the on the Godiva Mortgages solicitors pane.
