Virgin Solicitor Panel Example Support Desk Enquires from members of the public
My fiance and I are FTBs. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to sign with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Virgin have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
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 Quality Scheme. Your property lawyers 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 may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Please assist. My lawyer is not to blame but, my purchase conveyancing has been going on for months. The Local Authority Search from Virgin was dated random date and we have agreed a date for me to move into the property on 6. My solicitor has advised that as she is on the Virgin conveyancing panel she needs to redo the searches as they are no longer acceptable to the lender.
One of the many conditions to being on the Virgin approved panel is to comply with the CML Handbook Part 2 obligations (last updated for this lender on Virgin)which specifies that a local authority search be not more than half a year old. You should nevertheless ask your lawyer to check whether something called ‘search validation’ indemnity insurance is acceptable to Virgin.
Whilst your website is a good idea there are many lawyers listed near Hackney on the Virgin conveyancing panel. Can you recommend a specific firm on the conveyancing panel for Virgin ?
We are not in the business of recommending one firm above another as the right firm for you depends on where your priorities lie. For example you may require a local firm with local knowledge or you might be looking for the low cost conveyancing. We recommend that you speak to 3 or 4 lawyers listed before you make your choice..
My house is up for sale and I have a buyer. Does my solicitor have to be on the Virgin conveyancing panel in order to deal with paying off 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.
I previously instructed online solicitors located in Birmingham who are on the Virgin solicitor panel. They have just invoiced me a separate fee of £135 for dealing with the Virgin mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee set by Virgin?
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 Virgin but by your lawyers. Some firms on the Virgin will charge an ‘acting for lender’ fee and others do not.
I was thinking of purchasing my friend’s property. Assuming we can agree a figure, what’s the best way to move forward? I hope to get a mortgage with Virgin. Is it possible to avoid using solicitors to save us both money? My dad reckons back in the day he did a lot of it himself, just went into the land registry office and providing them with the info they needed himself
If you are getting a mortgage with Virgin involved you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Virgin conveyancing panel. We would not encourage you to both use the same solicitors' firm. There are clear conflict of interest issues and it's not going to make a huge difference to the speed of the overall process. So as not to hold things us you should pass on your solicitors details to Virgin. Feel free to use our search tool to look for a licensed conveyancer or solicitor on the Virgin conveyancing panel.
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.