Q and A’s regarding the Virgin Solicitor Panel
from members of the public
My fiance and I are FTBs. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to sign with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Virgin have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit 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 Quality Scheme.
Your solicitors should contact Virgin and see if they can apply for membership of the Virgin conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable Virgin will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the Virgin conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
My fiance and I intend to remortgage our penthouse with Virgin. We have a son approaching twenty who lives with us. The solicitor on the Virgin 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 repossessed. I have a couple of concerns (1) Is this form unique to the Virgin conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we bought 4 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 Virgin 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 Virgin .This is solely used to protect the Virgin 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 Virgin 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.
Do all the firms listed on your search have online case tracking as I was under the impression that this was a precondition of being on the Virgin solicitor panel?
The Council of Mortgage Lenders or BSA do not require online case tracking. Some law firms operate such technology and some don't.
I am in the process of refinancing my home does my lawyer have to be on the Virgin Solicitor panel?
In theory, you could use a solicitor that is not on Virgin conveyancing panel, but Virgin would require one of their panel solicitors to be instructed to act in their interests, and you'd have to pay for this - so most people instruct a panel solicitor. It's also easier, as otherwise you'd have to deal with two solicitors for the same transaction.
When it comes to lenders such as Virgin do lawyers have to be pay a fee to be on the conveyancing panel?
We are not aware of any lender fees to be on their panel although some do charge an administration charge to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel application.
The for formalities of my remortgage has taken place with a mortgage from Virgin. Conveyancing was satisfactory but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about Virgin. Who do I contact should I wish to lodge a complaint?
Most banks and building societies have complaints procedures. Your first port of call should be one of the Virgin branches or the Customer Services Team at Virgin head office. We understand that complaints to Virgin are sorted out very quickly. If you feel that the matter is not resolved you can write to the
Financial Ombudsman Service at South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR who will take matters further.
I was told four weeks ago that my mortgage has been agreed
to by Virgin. Is it usual for Virgin to only issue the offer once my
solicitor is approved on their conveyancing panel?
Mortgage companies tend not to not issue an offer 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.
