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approved by PepperMoney

According to a recent survey report by the solicitors regulator three quarters of law firms had been excluded from a lender panel. The most common reasons in order are :

1. lack of transactions
2. the lawyer is a sole practitioner
3. as part of the HSBC panel reduction
4. regulatory contact by SRA
5. accidental removal. We are not aware of the specific or common criteria for removal by Pepper Money

You have limited options available to you. As you are taking a mortgage with Pepper Money your lawyer has to comply with their conditions as set out in their version of the CML Conveyancing Handbook. Your lawyer would have previously signed the Terms and Conditions of Pepper Money’s conveyancing panel appointment which obliges them to follow the CML Handbook requirements last updated Pepper Money. even if you were a cash buyer you would be ill advised not to carry out a local authority search.

The law firms on our directory have assured us via an online form that they are on the Pepper Money panel and agreed to advise us to take down their listing in the event of removal off of the Pepper Money panel. To date we have not been informed by either a bank or a member of the public that the data about a specific firm being on the Pepper Money conveyancing panel is not accurate.

This is as unusual as it is unlucky. Most lender Terms of Conveyancing Panel Appointment specifically oblige the solicitor to inform the lender of an address change. Your solicitor needs to treat this with the utmost urgency. Do speak with or register your concern with the senior partner (assuming he or she is not your direct lawyer). Most lenders would be reasonable in this situation and expedite the resolution of this issue. It may be prudent to enlist the help of your local Pepper Money branch or your mortgage broker to see if they can assist.

Although you do need to retain the services of a lawyer they dont need to be on the Pepper Money panel. You will need a solicitor to draw up the transfer and to deal with the Land Registry formalities. The only thing you need to consider is that by selling at an undervalue so ask your lawyer about the implications. There could be an inheritance tax issue if you die within 7 years of this. There's no capital gains tax for you as it is your main residence.

Pepper Money will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Pepper Money will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller. or Your lawyer will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with Pepper Money you could contact your them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors.

As regards the Pepper Money mortgage, it is unusual that your ex-wife’s name remains on the mortgage but not on the title. It is conceivable that this is an oversight on the part of your conveyancers to ensure that her name was removed or even an administrative error on the part of Pepper Money in failing to update their data. In any event, it should cause difficulty providing her name no longer appears on the Land Registry title and you have a court order ordering that the property is transferred to you.