Buyer Is Changing Solicitor Just before Exchange

Kazza_Monkey

Hi All,

I'm new to this forum so please forgive any error I make:o.

I am in the process of selling my house to first time buyers and am moving in with family (no Chain). At the beginning of the process it transpired that my buyer wanted to use the same solicitor firm but with a different conveyancer to us (hubby and me) which we thought was ok, we signed the letter saying we were aware of the situation and our conveyancer assessed the situation for conflict of interest and agreed he was satisfied we were ok to proceed. I emailed him this morning asking about us being able to exchange this Friday and Complete by the end of the month. Any way later on I had an email from the solicitor saying that Lender 'Virgin Money'(our buyers mortgage) were unhappy with us both using the same solicitor firm and that our buyers will have to get a new solicitor (didn't even give us an option to change). My question is has anyone else experienced this and once the solicitor was changed how quickly did they get the re-newed mortgage offer and ability to exchange as I feel like I've had the rug pulled from underneath me at the moment.
Any advice would be most appreciated

Thanks

Kazza

Thrugelmir

Lender has the final say as to who represents them. If all the papers are passed over promptly shouldn't pose too much of a problem. The existing mortgage offer should stand.

Kazza_Monkey

Thanks Thruglemir. It never even occurred to me that it would be a problem. My annoyance wasn't with the lender or the buyer, it was the conveyancer that niggled me a little as they must have known certain lenders have criteria that doesn't allow this. I must admit we wondered from the out set how it would work both parties using the same firm of Solictors. Oh well lesson learned for the future If we buy/sell again

Kazza

Thrugelmir

I'm surprised that Virgin weren't informed earlier.

TBagpuss

it's entirely possible that Virgin was informed and has only just got around to objecting. Are they requiring the buyers to get a new solicitor or just saying that a different solicitor has to act on behalf of the mortgage co?

Kazza_Monkey

Thanks Tbagpuss, they have asked for the buyer to get another solicitor. I got another email today confirming my buyer has agreed to transfer over to the recommended solicitor and they have passed the file over today as well. So it looks like everything is all back on track. My solicitor says it looks like its still going to be ok to complete by the end of the month. Now its just the waiting game