Q and A’s regarding the Tandem Bank Solicitor Panel from members of the public
I am selling my apartment and the estate agent has just texted me to say that the buyers are swapping conveyancer. The reason given is that Tandem Bank will only deal with solicitors on their conveyancing panel. Why would a leading mortgage company only work with specific law firms?
Lenders have always had an approved set 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 blame a rise in fraud by way of justification 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 solicitor has discovered a legal deficiency with the lease for the apartment we are purchasing. The seller’s lawyers have offered defective title insurance as a workaround. We are happy with insurance and will pay for it. Our solicitor says that as he is on the Tandem Bank conveyancing panel he must be satisfied that the lender is happy with this solution. Are we the client or is Tandem Bank?
Just because you have a mortgage offer from Tandem Bank 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 Tandem Bank are the client. These conveyancing instructions have to be complied with by the Tandem Bank conveyancing panel who has to balance acting for you and Tandem Bank
How up to date is your search tool for the Tandem Bank conveyancing panel? Do Tandem Bank send you an updated list?
The firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Tandem Bank conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Tandem Bank directly.
My house is up for sale and I have a buyer. Does my solicitor have to be on the Tandem Bank conveyancing panel in order to deal with redeeming my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Tandem Bank 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 Tandem Bank conveyancing panel work on a no sale no fee basis?
In the main 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 service
I am buying a property where the roof has a solar panel. Solicitors conducting should look into this right? Will my lender Tandem Bank be concerned
Given that your lender is Tandem Bank your lawyer must to check the Tandem Bank conveyancing instructions contained in the Part of CML Handbook for Tandem Bank . The CML Handbook contains minimum requirements for solar panel roof-space leases, and solicitors are required to report to Tandem Bank where a lease does not meet these requirements. The requirements relate to the installation of panels on properties in England and Wales. The CML are developing guidance for Northern Ireland and Scotland.
My offer on house has been accepted, the seller does however have a dependent purchase. The vendors have offered on somewhere, but not been accepted yet, and have viewings of other properties in the pipeline. My conveyancing solicitor has been instructed. What should be my next step? At what point should I appy for the mortgage with Tandem Bank?
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 Tandem Bank 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 Tandem Bank and pay for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they pay their solicitor to press on with searches.