Which lenders do we act for on residential transactions?
If you would like us to act for your lender, here is a list of lenders we will act for:
Lenders we will act for:
Alliance & Leicester
Bank of Ireland
Barclays
Clydesdale Bank
Coutts & Co
Coventry B S (Godiva Mortgages Ltd)
Darlington Building Society
Derbyshire Building Society
First Direct
Generation Home
HSBC plc
Ipswich Building Society and Suffolk Building Society
Lloyds Banking Group plc:
Bank of Scotland
Birmingham Midshires
Cheltenham & Gloucester
Halifax
HBOS
Intelligent Finance
Scottish Widows Bank
St James Place
National Westminster Bank plc (NatWest)
Nationwide Building Society
Pepper Money
Perenna Bank Plc
Precise Mortgages
Royal Bank of Scotland
Santander (formerly Abbey National plc)
The Mortgage Works
TSB
UBC Homeloans
Virgin Money
Woolwich
Yorkshire Bank
Yorkshire Building Society:
Accord Mortgages
Barnsley Building Society
Chelsea Building Society
Lenders we do not act for:
Britannia Building Society (The Co-operative Bank plc)
Leeds Building Society
Leek Building Society
Metro Bank PLC
Skipton Building Society
Separate or joint representation?
Joint representation is where one solicitor acts for both the lender and the borrower. It works well when the lender agrees to use the buyer’s solicitor, but not so well the other way round. A conveyancer selected by a lender is unlikely to meet your requirements and there is an increased risk of a conflict of interest.
Separate representation is where lender and borrower each instruct their own solicitor. The big advantage is that both lender and borrower can choose a solicitor who can best look after their interests.
Worst case
There are a handful of lenders that do not permit you to instruct your own solicitor, insisting that you make do with theirs. This type of lender will invite you to choose a conveyancer from the lender’s preferred pool, probably at seductively competitive rates. The lender, your broker or estate agent may put you under pressure to use the lender’s conveyancer to ensure a “smooth” transaction.
We think it is wrong for banks to prevent you from obtaining independent legal advice from a solicitor of your choice. Often the lender’s conveyancer will limit their liability to you, leaving you with no recourse if something goes wrong. This means if they make a mistake your decision to buy the property will not be insured. Without an independent solicitor to check over the papers you are very vulnerable.
Every homebuyer deserves independent legal advice. If you are buying a property and taking out a mortgage we strongly recommend that you choose your own solicitor to ensure you receive this.
We believe that you, as a homebuyer, are likely to need more expert service and closer contact with your solicitor than your lender. Your lender is a large organisation with its own legal team.
If your lender chooses not to instruct your solicitor then we advise you to instruct Julie West Solicitors to act for you alone on your purchase. This way you can be sure that you will receive independent legal advice. Your lender will be free to engage a separate conveyancer to handle the formalities involved with taking a mortgage on the property.
We advise you to avoid any lender that will not allow you to instruct your own solicitor.
Fee list
Law Society Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS)
Our specialist solicitors are accredited under CQS. The Law Society launched the CQS scheme to help consumers make an informed decision about who to instruct to assist them with residential property work.
The primary aim of the scheme is to help the public avoid advisers that are unregulated, uninsured and untrained. The scheme is also used as a badge of trust, relied upon by lenders as well as other accredited firms.
Achieving the CQS accreditation shows that we follow best practice procedures to meet the highest standards of technical expertise and service helping clients with property work.