Zephyr Mortgages Conveyancing Panel Information

When a solicitor is acting for both Zephyr Mortgages and borrower there is potential for conflicts to arise. You owe duties to both clients. All information received by you from your client is confidential and cannot be disclosed without the client’s consent. In the situation you find yourself in if the purchaser will not consent to the information being passed on to the lender the solicitor must cease to act for the Zephyr Mortgages and it may well be prudent you to cease to act for the purchaser as well. You can not tell the Zephyr Mortgages the reason for termination of the retainer over and above the fact that a conflict has arisen. The fact that you can no longer act should alert even the most somnambulistic of lenders that something is wrong with the borrower and/or purchase. The fact that you have disinstructed yourself should not affect your Zephyr Mortgages conveyancing panel status.

Zephyr Mortgages approved solicitors are bound by 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 Zephyr Mortgages require, the deed of covenant on their behalf. You will need to check Zephyr Mortgages CML Part 2 conditions to see if Zephyr Mortgages 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 Zephyr Mortgages conveyancing panel

8 borrowers search for a conveyancer on the Zephyr Mortgages panel each month in Hendon. Please contact the team at lenderpanel.com to see how your firm can be found by those searching for conveyancing in Hendon.

CQS membership is no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. Nevertheless the CML have indicated that it is likely to become a prerequisite for firms wishing to join their panels. A number of Lenders now use the scheme as the starting point for Panel membership as is the case with Astra Mortgages.

You should communicate with Zephyr Mortgages to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook incorporates an explicit section for lenders to cite who to contact to obtain standard documents. Zephyr Mortgages in their Part 2’s state: You will need to disclose the firm’s Zephyr Mortgages solicitors panel reference.