mortgage application worries - beacon

Diseydi

Thank you Unite79 - at least its normal and my estate agent isn't feeding me lies! But you are right, me and my buyer are extremely !!!!!ED off. We were on the verge of exchange when all this came up and we should have been completing tomorrow - I am praying that it won't be long for them to sort themselves out!

unite79

Diseydi - I could tell you some examples that would make yours seem like a walk in the park!

honeymonster19

Hi. Just wondering if anyone could help me... I received my offer from Beacon a few days ago. I have been using a certain firm of solicitors throughout the transaction so far and they carried out searches etc and were simply awaiting the offer letter to proceed to exchange. However, today I received a call from my mortgage broker informing me that Beacon will not issue the offer letter to my solicitors as they do not like that particular firm of solicitors! They suggested that I use Beacon's own in-house solicitors as it will be so much quicker. BUT I will have to foot the bill for my present solicitor so far incurred as well as paying for the new solicitors who apparently will want to undertake searches etc again therefore double costing me. I have spoken to the Financial Services Ombudsman who say I need to go through the complaints procedure but I'm in danger of losing the property- we were suppose to complete end of August! I went back to my mortgage broker and said that I was feeling rail-roaded to which the response was that even if they allowed me to continue to use my chosen solicitor it will take 6-8 weeks to complete as Beacon's in-house solicitors will take their time and keep making requisitions whereas If I use them then it will be quicker- I'm not so sure. HELP!!

luckyfool

Beacon always always use their own firm of solicitors for their side of the legal work (B Legal in England). This is included within the product costs and you are perfectly entitled to use your own solicitor as well. It is probably true that having Beacon's solicitor act for you as well might be slightly faster.

Typically Beacon would issue a copy of the mortgage offer to you and to your broker and solicitor, but with B-Legal doing the lender end of the legal work. Is this what has happened or have they refused to allow you to use your own solicitors at all?

The Beacon Homeloans Application form actually has a couple of pages on it fully explaining their legal process which you may have seen unless your broker used a packagers "generic" form.

honeymonster19

Hi. Thank you for your response. They are refusing to let me use my chosen solicitors simply giving the excuse that they do not like them!! I feel a little bullied to be honest as my mortgage broker says Beacon could revoke the offer altogether if I choose to stay with my solicitors and that Beacon are a law unto themselves. I wouldn't mind so much if they were willing to actually pay back legal costs I have already incurred particularly as they are the ones stipulating that I have to use their solicitors. Also the threat that if I continue with my solicitors it will take another 6-8 weeks to complete as they will basically sit on any paperwork a good 7-10 before responding to my solicitors at all.

FraudBuster

Speak to The Solicitors Regulation Authority about your concens:

http://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/consumers.page

honeymonster19

My current sol has just spoken to B-Legal direct who have said there is no issue with dealing with them. I told the mortgage broker this- who has told Beacon. He got back to me and said that it doesn't make a difference that their legal team are prepared to deal with my chosen solicitors Beacon are not prepared to!

luckyfool

Lenders sometimes have an issue with firms with less than 2 partners, but I have never had Beacon refuse to deal with a firm of one of my clients.

Not sure what issue can be, if they have 2 or more partners the only thing I can think is that they have had issues with the firm in the past.

honeymonster19

It's strange as my solicitors have quite a few instructions with the lender ebing Beacon and nothing has been said about those!

cherryonthetop

Hi Honeymonster,

Just wondering how your getting on with it all?