Examples of recent questions relating to the Zephyr Mortgages Solicitor Panel from members of the public
My wife and I are FTBs. Within the 48 hours our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Zephyr Mortgages have this evening contacted us to inform me 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 Quality Scheme. Your solicitors should contact Zephyr Mortgages and see if they can apply for membership of the Zephyr Mortgages conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable Zephyr Mortgages will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the Zephyr Mortgages conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
My wife and I intend to remortgage our flat with Zephyr Mortgages. We have a son approaching twenty who lives with us. The solicitor on the Zephyr Mortgages conveyancing panel requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who lives in the flat. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the property is forfeited by the lender. I have two concerns (1) Is this document specific to the Zephyr Mortgages conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we remortgaged 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 Zephyr Mortgages 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 Zephyr Mortgages .This is solely used to protect the Zephyr Mortgages 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 Zephyr Mortgages 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.
I have checked your search tool I can't find the lawyer I was hoping to instruct as being on the Zephyr Mortgages conveyancing panel. My lawyer has said that they are on the Zephyr Mortgages approved panel. How can I be sure given that they are not listed on your directory?
Not all firms are yet listed on our lender panel search tool which is still relatively new. Law firms are listing on a daily basis and it is probably the case that your lawyer is on the Zephyr Mortgages conveyancing lawyer and you should probably take them at their word. Please do feel free to suggest that they completing their listing on our site as it would only cost them £1 a month to list themselves as being on the Zephyr Mortgages solicitor panel.
My grandfather passed away six months ago and as sole heir and executor was left the property. The house had a small mortgage remaining of approximately £8000. I want to transfer the title deeds into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Zephyr Mortgages , pay off the mortgage etc. Is this possible?
If you intend to re-mortgage then Zephyr Mortgages will insist on your using a conveyancer on the Zephyr Mortgages conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your Zephyr Mortgages conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the Zephyr Mortgages mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
I previously instructed online solicitors based in London who are on the Zephyr Mortgages solicitor panel. They are now charging me a separate fee of £175 for the legal aspects of the Zephyr Mortgages mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee specified by Zephyr Mortgages?
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 Zephyr Mortgages but by your lawyers. Some firms on the Zephyr Mortgages will charge an ‘acting for lender’ fee and others do not.
I currently have a mortgage with with Zephyr Mortgages. Conveyancing was finalised a year ago. If I am intending to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Zephyr Mortgages?
Your original mortgage agreement with Zephyr Mortgages will provide that you need their approval in advance of renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Zephyr Mortgages’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies will permit you to let out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Zephyr Mortgages directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Zephyr Mortgages conveyancing panel firm.
At last I have had an offer on an apartment accepted, but there is a chain. 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 do I do now? At what point should I appy for the mortgage with Zephyr Mortgages?
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 Zephyr Mortgages 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 Zephyr Mortgages and pay for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they pay their solicitor to press on with searches.
