Solicitor paid early redemption fee by error

Edme

Hi, I hope someone can shed some light on how to best solve my issue.
We ported our mortgage with Natwest to our new house, we recently completed. With the porting, we do not need to pay early repayment charges (this is 1000% sure, this was confirmed by Natwest). We also raised a little additional mortgage to cover the price difference and costs.
However, the solicitor included the early redemption charge, which is a 5 digit figure in the redemption figure for the old house, therefore our completion balance is very significantly lower than expected - basically we do not have that £10k+, and I am not sure where it is! 
I don't exactly know how to monies move when a mortgage is ported, so where that £10k is? It is very hard to get anywhere with the solicitor, even with simpler problems with that.
Do you think it has been sent to the bank and we should ask the bank for a refund? Or shall I keep chasing the solicitors?
Thank you in advance for your help.

BarelySentientAI

Sometimes with ERCs, you pay the charge and then the lender refunds it later

The solicitor just pays whatever the redemption figure says - which the lender tells them - the solicitor doesn't decide how much to send.  This isn't them paying in error if the redemption figure included it.

Based on what you've said, I don't think you should be chasing your solicitor at all.

Edme

BarelySentientAI said:

Sometimes with ERCs, you pay the charge and then the lender refunds it later

The solicitor just pays whatever the redemption figure says - which the lender tells them - the solicitor doesn't decide how much to send.  This isn't them paying in error if the redemption figure included it.

Based on what you've said, I don't think you should be chasing your solicitor at all.

Hi, thank you for your answer.
Yeah, I think the Natwest documentation is confusing, because they display the ERC then explain that it it not charged if the mortage is ported - this is what the Solicitor ignored.
A few years ago we did a similar moving and the Solicitor, correctly, did not sent ERC to the bank, but it was maybe because I had flagged this with them beforehand. 
Okay, based on what you're saying I think I need to contact my bank. I hope I don't need to wait for the refund for too long because the solicitor did not pay the estate agents either.

BarelySentientAI

Edme said:

BarelySentientAI said:

Sometimes with ERCs, you pay the charge and then the lender refunds it later

The solicitor just pays whatever the redemption figure says - which the lender tells them - the solicitor doesn't decide how much to send.  This isn't them paying in error if the redemption figure included it.

Based on what you've said, I don't think you should be chasing your solicitor at all.

Hi, thank you for your answer.
Yeah, I think the Natwest documentation is confusing, because they display the ERC then explain that it it not charged if the mortage is ported - this is what the Solicitor ignored.
A few years ago we did a similar moving and the Solicitor, correctly, did not sent ERC to the bank, but it was maybe because I had flagged this with them beforehand. 
Okay, based on what you're saying I think I need to contact my bank. I hope I don't need to wait for the refund for too long because the solicitor did not pay the estate agents either.

If Natwest were expecting a smaller amount, then I would expect them to discover the overpayment and refund the excess.  It isn't really for your solicitor to decide how much to transfer.

Seems like Natwest are the right people to question.

ACG

Speak to the solicitor. 

amnblog

When the Solicitor the requests funds the normal procedure is for the Solicitor to remind the Lender that you are porting a product. The settlement figure on the original mortgage then reflects the port and ERC saving.

In your shoes I would enquire to both parties.

BarelySentientAI

ACG said:

Speak to the solicitor. 

amnblog said:

When the Solicitor the requests funds the normal procedure is for the Solicitor to remind the Lender that you are porting a product. The settlement figure on the original mortgage then reflects the port and ERC saving.

In your shoes I would enquire to both parties.

Edme - these commenters both know a lot more than I do on this topic, so feel free to ignore my posts and follow their advice! 

Hoenir

When did you complete? 

Edme

Hoenir said:

When did you complete? 

Hi, we just completed earlier this week. 

Hoenir

Edme said:

Hoenir said:

When did you complete? 

Hi, we just completed earlier this week. 

Ring your lender. Any excess of funds will be returned. 

Edme

amnblog said:

When the Solicitor the requests funds the normal procedure is for the Solicitor to remind the Lender that you are porting a product. The settlement figure on the original mortgage then reflects the port and ERC saving.

In your shoes I would enquire to both parties.

amnblog said:

When the Solicitor the requests funds the normal procedure is for the Solicitor to remind the Lender that you are porting a product. The settlement figure on the original mortgage then reflects the port and ERC saving.

In your shoes I would enquire to both parties.

Thank you, this is really useful info! 
A few years ago, in relation to the earlier move I mentioned, when I spoke to the solicitors they said they understood that they did not need to pay ERC. For some reason this put my mind at ease this time too - I thought these set of solicitors will be aware too. It came up a couple of times that we were porting the mortgage.
The estate agent is now trying to speak to the solicitors (they were their recommendation) as they are chasing their money too. The ERC that we do not need to pay would have covered their fees.