Transfer of equity - do you need multiple solicitors?

noscrubs101

Hi ex and I have broken up and I've moved out of the property. His friend is going to be replacing me on the mortgage and we've agreed on a figure that I'll be given as a transfer of equity, all fine. 

The bank we had the mortgage with have said their solicitors will deal with this and it's all in hand.

I'm in the process of buying a new property and will be using this money towards my deposit. However my solicitors are now insisting I complete various forms and questionnaires regarding this transfer of equity and there will be fees associated with this. 

Is this correct? I was under the impression that the banks solicitors would deal with all this as it's amicable and we've agreed a figure and I wouldn't need to get my solicitors involved. 

Does anyone have any guidance on this? 

Exodi

The banks solicitors will deal with it?

To be honest, what you've said is completely alien to me. Banks usually insist  you have a solicitor handle the transfer of equity as the mortgage is not the only thing that needs changing (the deeds for one). I thought banks would only deal with the mortgage product side (e.g. if it's a remortgage, borrowing more, or just the admin of changing the name). They do tend to charge a fee for this though (Nationwide charge £125 for a basic transfer of equity to the best of my memory).

Surely, if your partner is buying you out of the property - he should instruct a solicitor to process this on his behalf? I always felt it was an unwritten rule that the person buying out the other person deals with the process for it.

Seperately, you should only instruct a solicitor to handle your new property purchase (who may want to collobrate with your ex's solicitor).

noscrubs101

Hi thanksExodi said:

The banks solicitors will deal with it?

To be honest, what you've said is completely alien to me. Banks usually insist  you have a solicitor handle the transfer of equity as the mortgage is not the only thing that needs changing (the deeds for one). I thought banks would only deal with the mortgage product side (e.g. if it's a remortgage, borrowing more, or just the admin of changing the name). They do tend to charge a fee for this though (Nationwide charge £125 for a basic transfer of equity to the best of my memory).

Surely, if your partner is buying you out of the property - he should instruct a solicitor to process this on his behalf? I always felt it was an unwritten rule that the person buying out the other person deals with the process for it.

Seperately, you should only instruct a solicitor to handle your new property purchase (who may want to collobrate with your ex's solicitor).

Thanks for the reply, apologies I probably wasn't very clear.  My ex partner is buying me out and he's been liaising with the bank's solictors and that is all in hand.

However my solicitors who are handling my property purchase have now emailed me to say they've opened a case for the transfer of equity on my behalf and I wondered if this was normal or whether I can basically tell them this isn't required as the bank's solicitors have this in hand.

noscrubs101

Hi thanksExodi said:

The banks solicitors will deal with it?

To be honest, what you've said is completely alien to me. Banks usually insist  you have a solicitor handle the transfer of equity as the mortgage is not the only thing that needs changing (the deeds for one). I thought banks would only deal with the mortgage product side (e.g. if it's a remortgage, borrowing more, or just the admin of changing the name). They do tend to charge a fee for this though (Nationwide charge £125 for a basic transfer of equity to the best of my memory).

Surely, if your partner is buying you out of the property - he should instruct a solicitor to process this on his behalf? I always felt it was an unwritten rule that the person buying out the other person deals with the process for it.

Seperately, you should only instruct a solicitor to handle your new property purchase (who may want to collobrate with your ex's solicitor).

Thanks for the reply, apologies I probably wasn't very clear.  My ex partner is buying me out and he's been liaising with the bank's solictors and that is all in hand.

However my solicitors who are handling my property purchase have now emailed me to say they've opened a case for the transfer of equity on my behalf and I wondered if this was normal or whether I can basically tell them this isn't required as the bank's solicitors have this in hand.

Skint_yet_Again

I think you may need to check with the bank what exactly their solicitor are doing. 

When I got divorced the building society handled the remortgage to get my ex’s name off but we also had to complete transfer of equity through my solicitor which sorted out the land registry side of things. It was a few years ago so things might have changed

Exodi

Skint_yet_Again said:

I think you may need to check with the bank what exactly their solicitor are doing. 

When I got divorced the building society handled the remortgage to get my ex’s name off but we also had to complete transfer of equity through my solicitor which sorted out the land registry side of things. It was a few years ago so things might have changed

Indeed, I've had similar experiences as Skint_yet_Again. I'd never heard of 'bank solicitors' processing the legalities of the ToE on behalf of one of their customers. Where are you from noscrubs101 and what is the bank? I've done two transfer of equities myself and in both cases the bank required me to have a solicitor.

Are you 100% sure they're not only dealing with the mortgage side and are expecting you to instruct a solicitor? It still seems truely bizarre to me that you claim your bank has a team of solicitors doing this for you. This would alo answer why your solicitor is looking at dealing with the transfer of equity as it looks like no-one is at the moment.

I could be completely wrong, this is just completey new to me.

alb1

I used to work for solicitors dealing with remortgages on behalf of a lender and frequently did transfers of equity. There was a small additional fee for us dealing with the paperwork but it was pretty routine for us. It’s probably worth asking the bank solicitors exactly what they’re including and whether you need your own representation. 

foxy-stoat

The advice is you should seek legal advice if you are the one coming off the mortgage and deeds - you do not need to though and there will be a charge for it if you do.  

If you have not instructed your solicitors to deal with the ToE then they shouldn't.  You just need to sign a form form the lender and maybe a land registry form also, but his solicitors should deal with that.