Brokers who interact with a specialist conveyancer at the beginning of a mortgage application to discuss the shape of a case will achieve the best outcome for the borrower, according to podcast panellists.
Speaking on the first of a series of podcasts with Mortgage Solutions, Foundation Home Loans’ director of sales Grant Hendry and Julian Sampson (pictured), partner and head of lending at TWM Solicitors discussed the importance of borrowers using a specialist conveyancer over a generalist, as well as asking for their advice at the earliest opportunity.
“There’s lots of things that need to be done in the correct order,” said Hendry. “The good advisers are the ones who interact with the specialist conveyancing part [of the process] at the beginning rather than at the end and expecting them to wave a magic wand to sort out the problem.”
Problems such as houses in multiple occupation (HMO) licensing in a specific area, said Hendry, will be spotted by a specialist conveyancer straight away having come across refusals for licences on other applications. Knowing this at the beginning of the application saves the borrower, and the broker, time and money.
“Speak to them early, build that relationship with your conveyancer and you’ll have a much better experience with us as a lender,” said Hendry.
He added that it was also important to educate the customer about the importance of using specialist legal advice. “John Smith who has done all the family legal work in the past may not be expert in [specialist lending]. There’s a lot involved in it.”
Sampson highlighted how his firm run an open-door policy to offer support to specialist professionals.
“Essentially we invite brokers, lenders and sales teams to send enquiries whether we’re acting on the transaction or not,” he said.
“That’s all about supporting the broker and lender and none of it is about securing the transaction as we might not be acting on it.”
Spotting and explaining the implications of emerging trends in the market is another valuable service specialist conveyancers offer to lenders and brokers.
“It’s the thematic changes that we see, when we see the same transaction come through time and time again, especially in relation to [HMO] licensing regulation, [we can see] how councils’ attitudes are changing the multi-let arena.”
Sampson has seen a rise in the way some councils are “aggressively licensing some areas” and “aggressively enforcing” when there is no licence.
“Before licensing was very much a paper exercise, now we’re seeing licensing officers not just talking to borrowers and landlords about how better to support the tenants we’re seeing [them] talking to tenants.”
You can listen to the full podcast below.
This is the first in a series of podcasts with Foundation Home Loans supported by Mortgage Solutions. The podcast features Grant Hendry, director of sales at Foundation Home Loans and Julian Sampson, partner and head of lending at TWM Solicitors. The host is Samantha Partington, freelance journalist for Mortgage Solutions.
Samantha Partington is a freelance trade and consumer journalist writing about property and personal finance. Previously she worked worked for the Daily Mail and Property Week. She is the former deputy editor of Mortgage Solutions and editor of Specialist Lending Solutions.
Before becoming a journalist, Samantha worked as a mortgage broker and latterly for a mortgage, bridging and secured loan lender. Samantha is CeMAP qualified. Follow her on Twitter @SamJPartington1.
