Digital Mortgages (Atom Bank) and LISA for deposit

DanielleJH

I'm at the beginning of the house buying process, having had an offer accepted on Monday. I already had a solicitor lined up as they're my family solicitors, so if got a quote and instructed them, passed their details onto the estate agent etc. although not yet paid their fee. I'm using L&C as a broker and initially was expecting them to come back with the Post Office as a recommended lender but they've now come back with Digital Mortgages as the best for us.

The first complication is that we'd have to change solicitors as ours aren't on the lending panel, to a random national one by the looks of other people's experiences, which I'm not too keen on. Also, we're using two LISAs for the deposit and when researching the company today, I notice their lending criteria says 'unacceptable sources of deposit include secured loans (including Help To Buy)' https://residential.digitalmortgages.net/lending-criteria I assume this means we actually can't use them. In which case I'm now slightly concerned about the ability of my broker.

I intend to call tomorrow as my broker is no longer in tonight, but can anyone shed any light on this? Is the LISA not considered in the same class as Help To Buy or has the broker messed up here? If we do go ahead with them, how much hassle is it to use a "faceless" random solicitor?

I'm tempted to just call back and get him to change to the next best deal, which is hopefully with a more mainstream lender who can work with our solicitor.

middleclassbutpoor

LISA and Help to Buy are not the same thing. Thats not anything you need to worry about reading the link.

In terms of your solicitor, usually if they are not on a panel, they can apply but if they are a sole practitioner (only one partner in the firm) this could be the reason. If the firm has more than one partner in the firm then I would enquire directly with the lender to see if its a simple process to get them on the panel.

I wouldn't necessarily go with a firm that has been recommended by l&c as this is how they make more money via the referral.

If your solicitor can't get on their panel, I would ask for a list of local solicitors for you to perhaps choose from if you are looking for face to face/local advice.

ThePants999

It's worth noting that although it's totally standard to have the same solicitor act on behalf of both you and your mortgage lender, strictly speaking, you don't HAVE to do that. You can instruct one solicitor to act for you and handle the bulk of the conveyancing, and another solicitor to act for your lender and ensure their procedures are followed and their interests are represented. That way, the solicitor acting for you doesn't have to be on the lender's panel. Naturally, paying two solicitors is more expensive though

DanielleJH

Excellent, thanks for the clarification on the LISA.

My solicitor has said it would be an extra £300 to use them alongside Digital, plus any further fees their solicitors charge, which I really don't want to do as it seems a bit counterintuitive looking for a mortgage deal that saves us a few £s a month but costs a few hundred more at the outset. I shall discuss with the broker in the morning then and see what he suggests.