Common questions asked concerning the Kent Reliance Solicitor Panel from members of the public
I need to swap lawyers as my lawyer is not on the Kent Reliance panel of conveyancing solicitors. How easy is it to change conveyancer?
If you haven't yet instructed a solicitor to do anything for you and have just received quotes, you're perfectly free to choose a different solicitor to carry out your work for you. The best way is to get recommendations from friends or family who have actually used the solicitor or conveyancer you're considering.
My fiance and I are refinancing our maisonette with Kent Reliance. We have a son 18 who lives with us. The solicitor on the Kent Reliance 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 apartment is repossessed. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this form unique to the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we bought 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 Kent Reliance .This is solely used to protect the Kent Reliance 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 Kent Reliance 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.
Do lenders provide you with an approved list of solicitors? How do you know who is on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel?
The law firm practices themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Kent Reliance directly.
The solicitors that I recently instructed on my purchase in Hendon has without warning closed. They were on acting for me because I needed a lawyer on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel and my previous lawyer was not. I gave them a cheque for £150 in advance. What are my options?
Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then let them know immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Kent Reliance 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
I am about to exchange contracts on a purchase with a mortgage from Kent Reliance. The report from my solicitor mentions that Kent Reliance could withdraw their offer before completion. Is this right?
Lenders such as Kent Reliance can withdraw their mortgage offer although this rarely happens. In the unlikely event that Kent Reliance withdraw their offer they may or may not inform you or the lawyer as to their reasoning. There are many potential reasons but here are 5 examples:
- Kent Reliance may amend or withdraw an offer if the Kent Reliance 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
- If the borrower informs Kent Reliance of a change in the loan amount agreed
- Situations where information provided by the borrower that enabled the lender to make a lending decision is fraudulent, incorrect or misleading.
- Where the lender is on notice of a restriction or a right of pre-emption which is not at market value
- If the lender reasonably believe that the applicant, borrower, mortgagor or guarantor is insolvent or is about to become insolvent or has or will have a petition presented or if any one or all enter into any arrangement with their creditors generally or if any one or all should suffer a material change in their financial circumstances
The mortgage over my property is with Kent Reliance. Conveyancing has been completed a year 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 Kent Reliance?
Your original mortgage agreement with Kent Reliance will provide that you need their approval before letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Kent Reliance’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Kent Reliance 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 Kent Reliance directly. You need not do this via a Kent Reliance conveyancing panel lawyer.
Kent Reliance have agreed my mortgage in principle, my offer on house has been accepted, now what?
The estate agent will want to know who your solicitors are (make sure these solicitors are on the lenders panel). Call up Kent Reliance or your broker and complete any relevant paperwork. Kent Reliance will tell you what documents they want. Kent Reliance will instruct a valuer. The valuer will get in touch with the estate agent or seller to book an appointment. Once conducted (assuming no problems) it takes about week to get a mortgage offer. Kent Reliance will issue the offer to you and your lawyer. The transaction will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing.