Topaz Finance Conveyancing Panel Recently Asked Questions from members of the public
My partner and I are novices when it comes to buying a property. Within the 48 hours our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Topaz Finance have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
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 Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyers should contact Topaz Finance and see if they can apply for membership of the Topaz Finance conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable Topaz Finance will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the Topaz Finance 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 have another set of people involved.
My fiance and I intend to remortgage our maisonette with Topaz Finance. We have a son 18 who lives with us. The solicitor on the Topaz Finance conveyancing panel has asked us to disclose any adults other than ourselves who reside at the property. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the flat is forfeited by the lender. I have two concerns (1) Is this document specific to the Topaz Finance conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we remortgaged 5 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 Topaz Finance .This is solely used to protect the Topaz Finance 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 Topaz Finance 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 there any apps to help find a local solicitor on the Topaz Finance conveyancing panel? I have a car and am prepared to travel up to 10 kilometers to meet the solicitor.
Feel free to make use of the find a conveyancing panel search on this page. 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 Topaz Finance solicitor panel.
I am attempting to get my former partner removed the mortgage deeds. Can Topaz Finance really insist on which solicitor I can or can not instruct?
You can use any solicitor you like but Topaz Finance 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 Topaz Finance solicitors panel
I am about to exchange contracts on a purchase with a mortgage from Topaz Finance. The report from my solicitor mentions that Topaz Finance could withdraw their offer before completion. Is this right?
Lenders such as Topaz Finance can revoke their mortgage offer although this is unusual. If Topaz Finance withdraw their offer they may or may not inform you or the lawyer as to the reasons why. There are many potential reasons but here are a number of examples:
- Where information comes to Topaz Finance ‘s attention regarding the customers or the security that they were not aware of prior to offer that affects their original decision to lend
- Amendments if purchase price adjusted and the loan to value limits exceeded by this. Please note that Topaz Finance conveyancing panel solicitors would be obliged to notify Topaz Finance of a change in the price of the property.
- Situations where information provided by the borrower that enabled the lender to make a lending decision is fraudulent, incorrect or misleading.
- Where the lender has to take account a recent change in law
- Where the lender is on notice of a restriction or a right of pre-emption which is not at market value
Planning on purchasing a flat with a mortgage with Topaz Finance. I have received an online quote from a licensed conveyancer, which states: "There will be no charge for dealing with the Lender if you are obtaining a mortgage". I take this to mean that there will be no additional fee if the solicitor is on the Topaz Finance conveyancing panel. I wanted to make sure it means there will be no additional fees for dealing with the mortgage.
They are simply saying that the cost for acting for the lender is included in the fee being quoted. It is worth you checking that they are on the Topaz Finance conveyancing panel
At last I have had an offer on an apartment 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 booked. My conveyancing solicitor has been instructed. What should be my next step? When should I get the mortgage app going with Topaz Finance?
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 Topaz Finance 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 Topaz Finance and pay for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they pay their solicitor to press on with searches.
