FAQs : The Scottish Widows Solicitor Panel from members of the public
My husband and I are novices when it comes to buying a property. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Scottish Widows have this evening contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
If you are buying a property with the assistance 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 Quality Scheme. Your solicitors should contact Scottish Widows and see if they can apply for membership of the Scottish Widows conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable Scottish Widows will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the Scottish Widows conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Our son-in-law is buying a new build apartment with a mortgage from Scottish Widows. His lawyer has advised him of a delay in completing the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. What is this document - I have never come across this before?
The form is intended to provide information to the main parties involved in the transaction. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the Scottish Widows conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the surveyor when asked.
The Developer will be required to start the process by downloading the form and completing it.
The form will therefore need to be available for the valuer at the time of his or her site visit. The form should be sent to the Scottish Widows conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.
How do I find a local solicitor on the Scottish Widows conveyancing panel? I have a car and am prepared to travel up to 10 miles to meet the lawyer.
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 Scottish Widows solicitor panel.
The solicitors that I appointed last week on my purchase in Hendon has without warning closed. I chose them because I needed a solicitor on the Scottish Widows conveyancing panel and my family lawyer was not. I gave them a cheque for £150 in advance. What should be my next steps?
Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then let them know straight away so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. 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 Scottish Widows 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 may be able to assist
I was thinking of purchasing my friend’s property. Assuming we can agree a figure, what’s the best way to move forward? I hope to get a mortgage with Scottish Widows. Is there anyway to cut out the solicitors to save us both money? My dad reckons back in the day he did a lot of it himself, just went into the land registry office and providing them with the info they needed himself
If you are getting a mortgage with Scottish Widows involved you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Scottish Widows conveyancing panel. We would not encourage you to both use the same solicitors' firm. There are clear conflict of interest issues and it's not going to make a huge difference to the speed of the overall process. So as not to hold things us you should pass on your solicitors details to Scottish Widows. Feel free to use our search tool to look for a licensed conveyancer or solicitor on the Scottish Widows conveyancing panel.
I had an offer accepted on an apartment on the 12th January 2014, valuation was booked 4 days after, received a clean bill of health. Conveyancer appointed, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Scottish Widows and chasing them on my offer I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Scottish Widows conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?
Mortgage companies tend not to not issue a mortgage until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Scottish Widows to deal with your lawyers application to be on the Scottish Widows conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitors will be accepted.
I have instructed a lawyer having checked that they are on the Scottish Widows conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
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Having digested plenty of house buying,I note that it is considered advisable to get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my solicitor - who is on the Scottish Widows conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. Is that normal?
Scottish Widows will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Scottish Widows will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey.
You may wish to consider appointing your own surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.
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Your lawyer will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with Scottish Widows you could contact your them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors.