Virgin Solicitor Panel Sample Enquires to our Call Center from members of the public
I am in the process of selling my maisonette and the EA has just telephoned to say that the purchasers are switching solicitor. The excuse is that Virgin will only engage with solicitors on their conveyancing panel. Why would a leading lender only work with specific law firms?
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 decades.
Lenders point to the increase in fraud as the reason 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.
We are due to exchange on the purchase a house but as a result of damage from the recent storms I have agreed compensation from the seller of £3k approx by way of a reduction in the price. This was going to be dealt with as part of the conveyancing process but my mortgage company Virgin will not agree to this. Why was Virgin even consulted?
Your lawyer being on the Virgin conveyancing panel is duty bound to inform Virgin of any changes to the purchase price. If you were to refuse your lawyers to disclose the reduction to Virgin then they would have to discontinue acting for you and Virgin.
I note that you have a post code search directory identifying law firms on the Virgin conveyancing panel. Do firms pay you a commission if I appoint them for my house purchase?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the Virgin conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to the any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint.
I am selling my house. Does my solicitor have to be on the Virgin conveyancing panel in order to deal with redeeming my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Virgin 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.
Is it the case that all conveyancing lawyers on the Virgin 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 had an offer accepted on a house on the 17th March 2014, valuation was booked 3 days later, received a clean bill of health. Solicitor instructed, so all that was missing was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Virgin and chasing them on my offer I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Virgin 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 Virgin to deal with your lawyers application to be on the Virgin conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitors will be accepted.
My ex -wife’s name is on the Virgin 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 Virgin mortgage in order to sell?
As regards the Virgin 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 Virgin 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.
