Moving House - Conveyancing Tie in to Lender

[cod man]

Not sure if this is the correct place or Finance, but here goes.

We are in the process of applying to increase and port our mortgage to a new house. On the application form it asks "Will you be taking advantage of the society's home conveyancing scheme" and goes on to say "If no, you should check whether your conveyancer is on the society's panel. If not the society will instruct a separate conveyancer to act for it and two sets of costs may be incurred for which you will be liable."

Now I'm worried that our solicitor isn't on their panel (I'll ask on Monday) but are they able to do this? It doesn't seem reasonable to me. What are the chances of our conveyancer being on their panel?

Any opinions would be welcome.

[rlw]

Thats the way its going - thousands of frims have been kicked off lenders' panel over the last few months. Its ostensibly to cut down on fraud/negligence but it is a bloody inconvenience for a lot of people. Simple way out is to let the lender's solicitor do the work and then complain about your lack of choice.

[Simpo Two]

Or say goodbye and change lenders. A neighbour has just moved to First Direct for the best deal.

[cod man]

Simpo Two said:

Or say goodbye and change lenders. A neighbour has just moved to First Direct for the best deal.

Well I would, but it's not really an option as i'm paying them 0.39% above BofE base for the ported bit of the mortgage. For the additional borrowing we require, they are making us take out a new loan at about 4.5% above base. Grrrr! Plus they wouldn't entertain the idea of us borrowing this extra top up from someone else either. I guess they are clawing as much back out of us as they possibly can.