Lender wants power of attorney

Gti

Looking through the T&Cs the lender has sent me with the offer and I see one of the conditions is I grant them "irrevocable power of attorney".

Now, I understand they would be loaning me a large amount of cash and rules need to be weighted in their favour so they can reclaim monies owed. But POA is overkill isn't it? Doesn't this grant them the ability to do whatever the hell they wanted, at any time and in my name as they please?
Is this standard in the mortgage world? I'm having a hard time googling this for anything other than POA for incapacitated relatives.

Paully232000

http://www.propertytribes.com/understanding-power-of-attorney-in-mortgage-t-cs-t-10756.html

I googled this and found this article, if it of any use.

stator

Welcome to Hobson's Choice.

You can choose to give the bank POA
or you can choose not to buy a house.

TrickyDicky101

As far as I can see (and my Google-fu may be failing me) that isn't a requirement stated under the CML handbook.

Is there something unusual about this mortgage?

David_White

Who is the lender if you don't mind me asking?

davidmcn

TrickyDicky101 wrote: »

Is there something unusual about this mortgage?

Probably not, it's bog standard enough to be in both the Halifax and Nationwide's conditions (the first two I checked). The powers are generally limited to doing things which the borrower is obliged to as a condition of the mortgage e.g. maintain the property.

stator

It's in Santander too

Gti

Accord is the lender.
This link shows that most lenders want this power https://www.cml.org.uk/lenders-handbook/englandandwales/question-list/1878/
Must be out of date though as it says Accord does not!

I had already seen the property tribes link. The guy seems a bit of a conspiracy nut but he makes some good points.
I am a FTB but I thought I would have heard of this before this stage. It's either not a big deal or nobody reads the T&Cs and people are unaware what power they are giving away.

davidmcn

Gti wrote: »

I had already seen the property tribes link. The guy seems a bit of a conspiracy nut but he makes some good points.

Not really, he seems quite misguided about all the lenders' powers being derived from the PoA - the comments by fanio are much better informed.

Gti wrote: »

It's either not a big deal or nobody reads the T&Cs and people are unaware what power they are giving away.

In practice I haven't heard of these powers actually being used, and there enough other restrictions on what lenders can do to give borrowers comfort (e.g. they couldn't take possession of the property without going through the usual procedures). Also the general requirement to Treat Customers Fairly these days.