Examples of recent questions relating to the Magellan Homeloans Conveyancing Panel from members of the public
The conveyancer my husband and I had intended to instruct on a remortgage said he would charge more if my lender is because of their difficult processes! Will I regret using Magellan Homeloans? Any comments will be appreciated
Magellan Homeloans conveyancing requirements for their panel are no better or no more complicated than most lenders.
It is the case now the CML Handbook, the "bible" used by solicitors to establish lender requirements, is different for each lender.
It is not clear if your lawyer is on the Magellan Homeloans conveyancing panel. If they are not, this does add further risk of delay as Magellan Homeloans will appoint their own solicitors to look after their interest.
We are due to exchange on the purchase a house but as a result of damage from the recent storms I have agreed compensation from the seller of £3k approx by way of a reduction in the price. This was going to be dealt with as part of the conveyancing process but my mortgage company Magellan Homeloans will not agree to this. Why was Magellan Homeloans even consulted?
Your lawyer being on the Magellan Homeloans conveyancing panel is duty bound to inform Magellan Homeloans of any changes to the purchase price. If you were to refuse your lawyers to disclose the reduction to Magellan Homeloans then they would have to discontinue acting for you and Magellan Homeloans.
How up to date is your database of lawyers on the Magellan Homeloans conveyancing panel? Do Magellan Homeloans send you an updated list?
The law firm practices themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Magellan Homeloans conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Magellan Homeloans directly.
I am selling my house. Does my solicitor have to be on the Magellan Homeloans conveyancing panel in order to deal with paying off my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Magellan Homeloans 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.
Do conveyancing solicitors on the Magellan Homeloans conveyancing panel work on a no sale no fee basis?
On the whole there are no requirements by lenders for their firms to operate on a no-sale-no-fee basis. There a small number of lenders who operate a very restricted conveyancing panel managed by a third party company (often termed in the industry as a ‘gatekeeper’). That third party may impose certain conditions such as non-sale-no fee on the panel firms. If you require this as a condition of your conveyancing then you should check with the conveyancing firm that this is part of their package
Do the majority of banks operate their own panel of solicitors?
Many lenders do operate a restricted conveyancing panel but a lot of lenders allow any solicitors to join their panel so long as they meet their criteria. Each lender sets their own criteria. For example the Magellan Homeloans conveyancing panel requirements are different to Magellan Homeloans’s conveyancing panel requirements.
At last I have had an offer on an apartment accepted, but there is a chain. The vendors have offered on somewhere, but not been accepted yet, and have viewings of other properties booked. My conveyancing solicitor has been instructed. What should be my next step? At what point should I appy for the mortgage with Magellan Homeloans?
It is usual to have concerns where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to be too out of pocket too early (mortgage application is approx £1k, then survey/valuation, conveyancing search costs, etc). First you should check that your solicitor is on the Magellan Homeloans conveyancing panel. As to the next stages this very much depends on the circumstances of your case, desire for this property and on the state of the market. In a hot mortgage some buyers would pally for the mortgage with Magellan Homeloans and pay for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they pay their solicitor to press on with searches.