Marsden Building Society Conveyancing Panel Sample Enquires to our Call Center from members of the public
I am in the process of selling my apartment and the estate agent has just texted me to warn that the buyers are swapping law firm. The excuse is that Marsden Building Society will only work with solicitors on their approved list. Why would a major mortgage company only deal with specific lawyers?
UK lenders have always had panels of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the past few years big names such as Nationwide , have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for decades.
Lenders point to the increase in fraud as the reason for the cull – criteria have been tightened and a smaller panel should be easier to keep an eye on. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels, or have other concerns about them. Some do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyer’s case. Your purchasers are unlikely to have any sway in the decision.
Our lawyer has identified a defect with the lease for the property we are purchasing. The other side have offered title insurance as a workaround. We are happy with insurance and will pay for it. Our solicitor says that as he is on the Marsden Building Society conveyancing panel he must check that the lender is happy with this solution. Are we the client or is Marsden Building Society?
Just because you have a mortgage offer from Marsden Building Society does not mean to say that the property will be meet their requirements for the purposes of a mortgage. Your lawyer has to ensure that the lease has to comply with the CML Handbook Requirements. You and Marsden Building Society are the client. These conveyancing instructions have to be complied with by the Marsden Building Society conveyancing panel who has to balance acting for you and Marsden Building Society
Are there any apps to help search for a local solicitor on the Marsden Building Society conveyancing panel? I have a car and am prepared to travel up to 25 kilometers to meet the solicitor.
Feel free to make use of the find a conveyancing panel tool on this website. Please choose the lender and your location and you will see a number of lawyer located nearest you. Alternatively you can type in the name of your proposed law firm and see if they are listed as being on the Marsden Building Society solicitor panel.
The solicitors that I recently instructed on my purchase in Brighton has without warning closed. I chose them because I needed a solicitor on the Marsden Building Society conveyancing panel and my previous lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take £175 for searches. What do I do now?
Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then inform them straight away so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Marsden Building Society 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 lawyers should be in a position to assist
Is it the case that all solicitors on the Marsden Building Society conveyancing panel overseen by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?
As solicitors, in order to be on the Marsden Building Society conveyancing panel they would need to be regulated by the SRA. Many lenders do allow licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such firms would be regulated by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers (CLC).
My existing mortgage is with Marsden Building Society. My father has just retired and wants to pay off the mortgage left on the property. After Marsden Building Society 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 Marsden Building Society conveyancing panel? I do not intend to live at the property once the Marsden Building Society mortgage is discharged.
Although you do need to retain the services of a lawyer they dont
need to be on the Marsden Building Society 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.
Completion of my remortgage has taken place with a loan from Marsden Building Society. Conveyancing was satisfactory but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about Marsden Building Society. How do I make a complaint?
All banks and building societies have complaints procedures. Your first point of contact should be one of the Marsden Building Society branches or the Customer Care Team at Marsden Building Society head office. Ordinarily complaints to Marsden Building Society are sorted out very quickly. If you feel that the matter is not resolved you can write to the
Financial Ombudsman Service at South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR who will take matters further.
