The Mortgage Works Conveyancing Panel : Questions and Answers from members of the public
My fiance and I are purchasing a 3 bedroom apartment in Leeds with a mortgage from The Mortgage Works. We like our solicitor but The Mortgage Works says she’s not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the The Mortgage Works panel firms or keep our solicitor and pay for one of their panel ones to represent them. We feel as though this is unjust; is there anything we can do?
Unfortunately,no. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the The Mortgage Works conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for The Mortgage Works
My wife and I changing mortgage lender for our maisonette with The Mortgage Works. We have a son 19 who lives with us. The solicitor on the The Mortgage Works conveyancing panel has asked us to disclose 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 property is repossessed. I have a couple of concerns (1) Is this document specific to the The Mortgage Works conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we bought 4 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this giving up his rights to inherit the property?
On the face of it your lawyer has done nothing wrong 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 Works .This is solely used to protect the The Mortgage Works 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 Works 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.
Are the lawyers identified as being on the The Mortgage Works conveyancing panel, together with their details provided by The Mortgage Works?
The law firm practices themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the The Mortgage Works conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from The Mortgage Works directly.
Can you clarify what the consequences are if my lawyer’s firm is removed from the The Mortgage Works Solicitor panel before completion?
First, 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.
Do conveyancing solicitors on the The Mortgage Works conveyancing panel work on a no sale no fee basis?
There is generally 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
After much negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their lawyers I paid an upfront payment of 150. Soon after the conveyancers contacted me to say that they were not on the The Mortgage Works 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 The Mortgage Works 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 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 The Mortgage Works?
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 The Mortgage Works 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 The Mortgage Works and pay for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they pay their solicitor to press on with searches.
