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Better HomeOwnership and other mortgage companies ordinarily restrict either the type or the number of conveyancing firms on their panel. Typical examples of such restriction(s) being that a firm must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some have decided to limit the number of firms they use to represent them. You should note that Better HomeOwnership have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any member of Better HomeOwnership Conveyancer Panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of conveyancing panels a few years ago and whilst there are differing views about the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms only carry out one or two conveyances a year. Those supporting conveyancing panel cuts ask why law firms should have the right to be on a Lender panel when clearly, Conveyancing is not their speciality? To put it another way; would you want a conveyancing solicitor to represent you if you were charged with a crime; probably not.

On the face of it your lawyer has done nothing wrong as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to Better HomeOwnership .This is solely used to protect the Better HomeOwnership if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave.

It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of Better HomeOwnership had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.

We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the Better HomeOwnership conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to the any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint.

Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Better HomeOwnership conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. it might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their requirements fairly frequently at the moment.

No. There is no such tool on the Council of Mortgage Lenders or Building Society Association websites. Very few lenders make their panel listings available online.

Given that your lender is Better HomeOwnership your lawyer must to check the Better HomeOwnership conveyancing instructions contained in the Part of CML Handbook for Better HomeOwnership . The CML Handbook contains minimum requirements for solar panel roof-space leases, and solicitors are required to report to Better HomeOwnership where a lease does not meet these requirements. The requirements relate to the installation of panels on properties in England and Wales. The CML are developing guidance for Northern Ireland and Scotland.

If you are getting a mortgage with Better HomeOwnership involved you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Better HomeOwnership conveyancing panel. We would not encourage you to both use the same solicitors' firm. There are clear conflict of interest issues and it's not going to make a huge difference to the speed of the overall process. So as not to hold things us you should pass on your solicitors details to Better HomeOwnership. Feel free to use our search tool to look for a licensed conveyancer or solicitor on the Better HomeOwnership conveyancing panel.