Recommended Conveyancing Solicitors and Lender Panel Solicitors

This articles applies to property purchasers utilising a Mortgage to purchase a property (be it a property you are looking to live in or as a buy-to-let). All mortgage lenders have an approved (recommended conveyancing solicitors) list of solicitors– commonly known as ‘Lender Panel Solicitors’ with whom these Lenders’ exclusively work.

In more recent months and years, Lenders have been regularly reviewing and removing their recommended conveyancing solicitor firms due to lack of compliance, integrity, failure to comply with the Council for Mortgage Lenders regulations etc. It is therefore important you choose a firm of Conveyancers who are on the panel for your chosen lender, right at the onset.

If your Conveyancer is not on the recommended conveyancing solicitors’ list for your proposed lender, you should either cancel your instruction with your current conveyancing solicitor and re-instruct one who is on the recommended conveyancing solicitor’s list for your proposed lender or worse; use two sets of solicitors (Separate Legal Representation). Separate Legal Representation is the process whereby you are represented by one firm of Solicitors while your mortgage lender instructs a Solicitor from their Lender Panel. Unfortunately however, you as the borrower is always responsible for the Lender’s Legal Costs and therefore add hundreds of pounds to your original conveyancing fees. Both these will cost you additional money and more pressingly, time and in some extreme cases, the transaction itself due to delays .

What can you do if you are already with a Conveyancing Solicitor who is not on the Panel of Solicitors approved by your approved lender?

More than an inconvenience, this is a decision which is not to be taken lightly. Depending on where you are in the current transaction, the choice has to be made to either re-instruct a new firm to act for both your Lender and you as the Purchaser or stick with the original firm and pay additional fees to a second firm who will represent your Lender separately.

Although we appreciate it is not always possible to know which lender you will be looking to borrow from and obtain a mortgage at the onset of the transaction, Express Conveyancing are proud to be working closely with a panel of both National and niche Law Firms specialising in Conveyancing and Property Law, who are on all lender panels. No matter which lender you choose to use, we can place you with a Conveyancing Solicitor with no additional fee involved than those stipulated on our original quote. Our Conveyancing Quote also covers costs involved in dealing with obscure Lenders, save for Bridging Finance; something most Solicitors charge hundreds of additional pounds for (sometimes on an hourly basis).

Contact our Residential Conveyancing team on 0203 375 2187 to discuss your transaction and for free advice or alternatively, to contact us by email, please click here.