Selecting a solicitor

GeorgeCat_2

We've had an offer accepted on a house over the weekend. yay! Cue many more questions from me over the next few months.

How important is it to select a conveyancing solicitor that is on the lenders panel? How do you find out if they are?

How do I select a surveyor or do I upgrade the lenders valuer to the survey type I want? (Apologies for this basic question but it doesn't seem to be covered on the idiots guides I've been reading)

Thanks

phoenix_w

You need to talk to your lender. They'll tell you all the local solicitors on their panel if you give them a town or postcode, or you can make a list of one's you'd like to use and ask them. If you use one not on their panel you'll have to pay a penalty (our lender wanted an extra £300, IIRC) which will pay for a solicitor on their panel to do a small bit of work.

Similarly, you need to ask your lender whether you can upgrade from a basic valuation or not - our buyer's lender didn't have the choice, so they have had a basic valuation from their lender and are having a separate home buyers survey paid for by themselves. In contrast, our lender just wanted the extra £170-ish for the upgrade.

TBagpuss

Yes, it's importnat that your solicitor is on the lenders panel. When you ring around local solicitorss to get quotes, ask them if they are on your lender's panel.

In terms of valuation - you can normally upgrade. It is worth asking the lender how long it is likely to take for the survey to be done - you may find it is much quicker to have the lender just do the basic valuation and to get your own surveyor to do the more detailed report, as lenders will often have a limited number of surveyors on their panels. (This will of course be slightly more expensive, but on the plus side you get to decide who to use.

jonnyb1978

Daft question probably but I have just instructed a solicitor to deal with the sale of our house. What happens if they are not on the panel of the mortgage lender we choose when we make a purchase??

vw100

If they are not on the lenders panel, the solicitor cannot proceed with the work, either they will recommend another solicitor or you will have to find an alternative solicitor.