How much are solicitors fees when buying a house?

Click for an instant, fixed fee quote: Get a Free Quote Or, read our breakdown of conveyancing costs.

Do I need a solicitor to buy a house?

You must use either a solicitor or a conveyancer to legally transfer the ownership to you. You will also need a solicitor to provide legal advice on your mortgage. Read more about conveyancing and whether you can do it yourself.

How do I choose a solicitor?

Your first question needs to be: are they on your mortgage lender's panel? You cannot use a non-approved solicitor or conveyancer. Then, you will want to get multiple quotes, as well as check out their reviews You can usually find a better deal than your estate agent's recommendation if you shop around.

how to check if solicitor is on lenders panel

Our panel of solicitors are on 99% of mortgage lender panels including Santander, Barclays, Kent Reliance, Natwest and HSBC.

Whether it is a purchase or a remortgage, our quotes are fixed and competitive. Check your lender's panel

How to check if solicitor is on lender's panel

by:

Andrew Boast

(Last Updated: 07/12/2023)

Created on:

23/05/2023

Read by:

611

6 min read

Mortgage lenders have a select panel of solicitors who they will agree to work with. It is important you check your specific lender's panel to confirm if your solicitor is currently listed. Not all solicitors or conveyancers can work with every mortgage lender.

Our panel of solicitors are listed on 99% of all mortgage lender panels in England and Wales. Why not check to see if we can help you with your purchase or remortgage:

Why do lenders only have some solicitors on their panel?

Some mortgage lender's only work with a handful of solicitors so it can be hard to know the best solicitors to work with, especially if you haven't chosen who your lender is before finding a property to buy.

When do you provide your solicitor's details to your mortgage lender?

You need to provide your conveyancing solicitor's details to your mortgage lender at the point of making a formal mortgage application (this may be earlier when buying using the Government's Help to Buy scheme).

The challenge buyers face is that they may not complete their formal mortgage application until some weeks into the conveyancing process.

Changing solicitors during the conveyancing process can cause weeks of delays as the seller's solicitors will need to retrieve the contract pack issued to the original solicitors and resend to the new solicitor.

Worried your conveyancing solicitor isn't on your mortgage lender's panel?

We can almost definitely help because our solicitors are on 99% of mortgage lenders' panels. You also benefit from a fixed fee, a No Sale No Fee Guarantee and our property lawyers are all accredited by the Law Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS).

Get a FIXED FEE Conveyancing Quote
Fixed Fee | Rated Excellent on Trustpilot | No Sale No Fee | On all Mortgage Lender Panels

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What work does the solicitor do for the mortgage lender?

The bank or building society providing the mortgage to the borrower require a solicitor to:

act on their behalf adhering to the criteria set out in the UK Finance Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook (formerly CML);
receive the mortgage funds and use them for the stated purpose; and
register the mortgage lender's charge over the property post completion.

Different mortgage lenders have different mortgage lending criteria that the solicitor needs to adhere to.

For example, some mortgage lenders do not require to see sight of any planning permission granted over a property, however Paragon Buy to Let Mortgages state:

"Yes, please place originals with the deeds. Where the property is a House in Multiple Occupation copies will need to be provided prior to release of funds" .

the solicitor acts for the lender, not you!

It is a common mistake to think that the solicitor acts for you in regards to the mortgage, whereas they actually act on behalf of the mortgage lender and must report to them anything that could affect the mortgage lending.

Examples of this include:

Gifted Deposits - if you are getting a gifted deposit then your solicitor will report this to your mortgage lender unless it is already noted within the mortgage offer. See what the mortgage lender needs for a gifted deposit.
Loans from family or friends - the solicitor will inform the mortgage lender about any other lending that is to be secured over the property or unsecured to buy the property.
No planning permission - if the seller hasn't got planning permission for works completed then the solicitor will inform the mortgage lender.

In all cases the mortgage lender reserves the right to refuse to lend the mortgage based on the information the solicitor reports to them.

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Which solicitors can't work with which mortgage lenders?

A solicitor will need to apply to be on a mortgage lender panel and mortgage lenders choose which solicitors they will allow to be on their panel based on set criteria.

The mortgage lender might choose to remove a solicitor from their panel if they haven't worked with them for a long time or if the solicitor has breached the terms set out by the mortgage lender (mortgage requirements are listed here - UK Finance Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook).

Here are some mortgage lender's criteria for solicitors to join their panel:

Santander UK PLC - require the solicitor firm to be CQS accredited and to have 2 principals - Click to see if your solicitor is on the Santander panel
HSBC Bank PLC - require the solicitor firm to be CQS accredited and to have 1 principal for properties up to £350k, 2 principals for properties up to £2m and 4 principals for properties over £2m - Click to see if your solicitor is on the HSBC panel
Royal Bank of Scotland - require the solicitor firm to be CQS accredited and to have 1 principal
Natwest Bank - require the solicitor firm to be CQS accredited and to have 1 principal
The Mortgage Works (TMW) - require the solicitor firm to have 2 principals - Click to see if your solicitor is on The Mortgage Works panel
Paragon Mortgages - Click to see if your solicitor is on the Paragon mortgage panel

Mortgage lender criteria changes so make sure to speak to your mortgage lender to find out their current mortgage lender panel of solicitors.

Our panel solicitors are on all mortgage lender panels* and we offer fixed fee quotes for purchase and remortgages - call us now on 0207 112 5388.

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Mortgage solicitors near me?

Back 30 years ago you would get a mortgage from your local lender, if in Coventry it'd most like be the Coventry Building Society, and instruct your local high street solicitor in Coventry.

This could be a limiting factor if that solicitor wasn't very good at conveyancing or they charged too much money.

The online market has now opened up to allow you to work with any conveyancing solicitor you like - you can choose a cheap one, one with an Excellent rating on Trustpilot or even one referred to you by your friend.

As long as the solicitor works on the panel of your mortgage lender then they can help you.

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Which mortgage lender panels are SAM's solicitors on?

SAM Conveyancing's panel solicitors are on all mortgage lender panels* meaning our solicitors can always act for you when you're buying - or selling - and there is a mortgage involved.

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Written by: Andrew Boast

Andrew started his career in 2000 working within conveyancing solicitor firms and grew hands-on knowledge of a wide variety of conveyancing challenges and solutions. After helping in excess of 50,000 clients in his career, he uses all this experience within his article writing for SAM, mainstream media and his self published book How to Buy a House Without Killing Anyone.

Reviewed by: Caragh Bailey

Caragh is an excellent writer and copy editor of books, news articles and editorials. She has written extensively for SAM for a variety of conveyancing, survey, property law and mortgage-related articles.