Conveyance - Is my solicitor actually doing anything?

Harpo84

I've been fighting my ex partner for the last 10 months over rights to my house. We've finally come to an agreement and I am about to go into the conveyance stage.

The problem is that Nat West (my lender) will only give me an off the record, verbal 'yes - in theory' when I ask if they will be happy to take my ex partner off the mortgage. They say that to get a more definite answer than that I must initiate the process to remove her. I've tried contacting them several times, talked to different people and got this same answer.

Now... my solicitor is saying that before they can start conveyance, she needs me to get a formal written confirmation from the bank that they will remove her. As well as instructions from the bank on how my solicitor is to handle the transfer.

I'm confused... it seems like my only option for progressing is to do the forms myself. In which case, am I doing the conveyance myself? Or is there more to it after the application? Am I paying my solicitor for nothing if I do this myself? And is this something I want to do?

And if I don't do the forms myself then what option do I have to get things started seeing as both my bank and solicitor are both refusing to budge and each are telling me to see the other?

Thank you in advance...

kingstreet

AFAIK you need to go to the bank and start the process of a transfer of equity. The first part will see you vetted by the bank to ensure you can afford to continue the mortgage alone. Once the bank has satisfied itself this is the case, it will send the necessary transfer documentation to your solicitor.

The solicitor then completes the transfer of equity, removing your former partner from the deeds, as the bank removes her from the mortgage.

kingstreet

Here's a post by someone in a similar situation;-

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=1008805&postcount=4