Market Harborough Building Society Solicitor Panel Recently Asked Questions from members of the public
My partner and I are novices when it comes to buying a property. Within the 48 hours our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Market Harborough Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyers should contact Market Harborough Building Society and see if they can apply for membership of the Market Harborough Building Society conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable Market Harborough Building Society will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the Market Harborough Building Society conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
can you help? My lawyer is informing me me that she is duty-bound to order a Local Authority search stemming from the fact that the firm are on the Market Harborough Building Society approved lawyer panel. Is this really necessary?
You have limited options available to you. As you are taking a mortgage with Market Harborough Building Society your lawyer has to comply with their conditions as set out in their version of the CML Conveyancing Handbook. Your lawyer would have previously signed the Terms and Conditions of Market Harborough Building Society’s conveyancing panel appointment which obliges them to follow the CML Handbook requirements last updated Market Harborough Building Society. even if you were a cash buyer you would be ill advised not to carry out a local authority search.
I am searching for competitive conveyancing fees. Can I be sure that all the law firms that are identified on your site are on the Market Harborough Building Society conveyancing panel?
The solicitor and licensed conveyancing practices listed on our site have assured us via an online form that they are on the Market Harborough Building Society panel and agreed to advise us to take down their listing in the event of removal off of the Market Harborough Building Society panel. To date we have not been informed by either a bank or a member of the public that the data about a specific firm being on the Market Harborough Building Society conveyancing panel is incorrect.
Please explain the implications if my solicitor is expelled from the Market Harborough Building Society Solicitor panel prior to the moving date as agreed at exchange of contracts?
The first thing to point out is that, this is a very rare occurrence. 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.
The for formalities of my remortgage has taken place with a loan from Market Harborough Building Society. Conveyancing was satisfactory but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about Market Harborough Building Society. How do I make a complaint?
Almost all banks and building societies have complaints procedures. Your first point of contact should be one of the Market Harborough Building Society branches or the Customer Services Team at Market Harborough Building Society head office. Ordinarily complaints to Market Harborough Building Society are resolved effectively and efficiently. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is resolved you can write to the
Financial Ombudsman Service at South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR who will take matters further.
I recently had an offer accepted on a house. My financial adviser suggested a solicitor I paid an upfront payment of 200. Soon after the conveyancers contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Market Harborough Building Society 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 Market Harborough Building Society 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 Market Harborough Building Society 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 Market Harborough Building Society mortgage in order to sell?
As regards the Market Harborough Building Society 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 Market Harborough Building Society 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.