Hodge Equity Release Conveyancing Panel Information

The Law Society of Scotland has suggested that solicitors should check their panel status with lenders before accepting client instructions to act. The advice is lender-agnostic as it does not relate specifically to solicitors on the Hodge Equity Release conveyancing panel. The recommendation arises from the practice of a number of mortgage lenders who remove solicitors from their panels without prior notice as part of their panel management system, which can lead to some solicitors discovering this only once instructed. This is sensible advice as a client finding out midway through a transaction that their lawyer is not on the approved lender panel is very frustrating and can lead to complaints. Many online consumer forums contain posts where someone is complaining about finding that their lawyer is not on a lender conveyancing panel. Such forums include moneysavingexpert.com

The key here is the caveat ‘more onerous’. You have to try and take an objective view as to whether the Terms relating to the Hodge Equity Release conveyancing appointment (or other terms for other lenders) are ‘more onerous’ than the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Conditions. Depending on the Terms you may need to provide details on your renewal form. If you are in any doubt please call your broker to discuss before completing the answer.

Hodge Equity Release approved solicitors have to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook instructions relating to Transfer of Equity. These are set out in Section 16.3. First, your firm must approve the form of Transfer of Equity (which should be in the Land Registry's standard form) and, if Hodge Equity Release require, the deed of covenant on their behalf. You will need to check Hodge Equity Release CML Part 2 conditions to see if Hodge Equity Release have standard forms of transfer and deed of covenant. Please note that this requirement can change from one transaction to another so do check! Second,When drafting or approving a transfer, you should bear in mind that: although the transfer should state that it is subject to the mortgage (identified by date and parties), it need give no details of the terms of the mortgage; the transfer need not state the amount of the mortgage debt. If it does, the figure should include both principal and interest at the date of completion, which you must check ; there should be no statement that all interest has been paid to date. Further obligations are set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook which have to be followed by all firms on the Hodge Equity Release conveyancing panel

9 consumers search for a property lawyer on the Hodge Equity Release panel every 4 weeks in Hendon. Please contact the team at lenderpanel.com to see how your firm can be identified by those searching for conveyancing in Hendon.

You should provide details of the date of removal, information on the reason for removal, date of appeal and any reason given for reinstatement. This should not adversely impact your firm’s application but gives the Law Society viability as to what has happened.

You should get in touch with Hodge Equity Release to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook has an individual section for banks to establish who to contact to obtain standard documents. Hodge Equity Release in their Part 2’s state: You will need to disclose your Hodge Equity Release conveyancing panel number.