The Mortgage Business Conveyancing Panel : Questions and Answers from members of the public
I am progressing with the sale of my house and the estate agent has just called to warn that the buyers are switching law firm. The reason given is that The Mortgage Business will only engage with property lawyers on their conveyancing panel. On what basis would a big named mortgage company only engage with certain solicitors?
Mortgage companies have always had panels of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the past few years big names such as Lloyds Banking Group, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for more than 15 years.
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.
My fiance and I changing mortgage lender for our maisonette with The Mortgage Business. We have a son 19 who lives with us. The solicitor on the The Mortgage Business conveyancing panel requested us to identify any adults other than ourselves who lives in the flat. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the apartment is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this document specific to the The Mortgage Business conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we bought 5 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your The Mortgage Business conveyancing panel solicitor is doing the right thing as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to The Mortgage Business .This is solely used to protect the The Mortgage Business if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave.
It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of The Mortgage Business had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.
Having used your search tool I can't find the lawyer I was hoping to instruct as being on the The Mortgage Business conveyancing panel. My lawyer has said that they are on the The Mortgage Business approved panel. How can I be sure given that they are not listed on your directory?
Not all firms are yet listed on our lender panel search tool which is still relatively new. Law firms are listing on a daily basis and it is probably the case that your lawyer is on the The Mortgage Business conveyancing lawyer and you should probably take them at their word. Please do feel free to suggest that they completing their listing on our site as it would only cost them £1 a month to list themselves as being on the The Mortgage Business solicitor panel.
I am attempting to get my ex-wife taken off the mortgage deeds. Can The Mortgage Business really tell me which solicitor I can or can not use?
You can use any solicitor you like but The Mortgage Business then has the right to appoint a different solicitor to act for them at your expense. It might be more cost effective and quicker to instruct a lawyer who is on the The Mortgage Business solicitors panel
I had instructed online solicitors based in Manchester who are on the The Mortgage Business solicitor panel. They have just invoiced me a separate fee of £195 for the legal aspects of the The Mortgage Business mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee set by The Mortgage Business?
Unfortunately, as long as it is in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your solicitors can charge a fee for this. This fee is not set by The Mortgage Business but by your lawyers. Some firms on the The Mortgage Business will charge an ‘acting for lender’ fee but plenty of firms include it on their overall fee.
We expect to receive a DIP from The Mortgage Business this week so we can work out what to offer on a property we like as otherwise we only have online calculators to go by (which aren't taking into account credit checks etc).Do the The Mortgage Business recommend a solicitor on the The Mortgage Business conveyancing panel, or is it better to go independently
You will need to appoint solicitors independently although you'll need to choose one on the The Mortgage Business conveyancing panel. The solicitor represents both you and the The Mortgage Business through the process.
My ex -wife’s name is on the The Mortgage Business 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 The Mortgage Business mortgage in order to sell?
In terms of the The Mortgage Business 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 The Mortgage Business 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.
