Frequently Asked Questions

The Remortgage Process

There are 5 main steps to a basic remortgage:

Step 1 = Inception
The case is set up, a copy of the title to the property is located and the initial documents are sent out to the borrower(s).

Step 2 = Case Preparation
The completed initial documents are received and processed. These are usually: the Remortgage Questionnaire, Mortgage Deed, Redemption Statement Authority Letter and Mortgage Offer. There may be additional documents depending in the individual case.

Step 3 = Title Check
The legal title of the property is checked to ensure that it is good and marketable and that the new Lender’s interest is protected. Any encumbrances on the title are dealt with.

Step 4 = Completion
On completion day the remortgage monies are received from the new lender and the existing lender is paid off. Any surplus funds are sent to the borrower and any additional payments are made.

Step 5 = Post Completion
An application is made to the Land Registry to update the legal title of the property with the removal of the old Mortgage Lender and the registration of the new Mortgage Lender.

There may be additional steps required depending on the individual case.

We always endeavour to deal with cases as quickly as possible, but the speed is dependent upon a number of factors: us being provided with all information and documentation promptly, fast receipt of the mortgage offer, any defects in the title to the property requiring attention, clear Land Registry searches, third party responses, quick receipt of redemption statement(s) from existing lender(s), any shortfalls in the sum being borrowed and any other issues which arise.

On behalf of our client, we will keep you updated throughout the process. We use email to provide updates and also provide access to an online case tracking service where you can track the progression of the case, along with being able to complete, upload and download any documentation. Letters can be sent, if you prefer.

A surplus occurs if you are borrowing more from your new lender than is owing to your existing lender. Any surplus monies can be paid to you on the day of completion using a secure same day electronic transfer process, or a cheque can be posted to you.

Once we have repaid your existing lender (unless your property is already unencumbered) and sent any surplus funds to you (if applicable) we will apply to the Land Registry to remove your existing lenders charge and replace it with your new lenders charge. You will not usually be required do anything.

We act solely for your new lender in relation to the remortgage, but we will be working closely with you and keeping you updated throughout the process. If you subsequently instruct us to act for you in relation to a transfer of equity or a shared ownership matter, then you will become our client too.

Remortgage Questionnaire

We are not passed all the information you may have already given to your broker and/or new lender and as such, you may be required to provide us with information which you have already provided to others. Whilst this can be frustrating, it is very important that you do provide us with all the information that we request as quickly as possible (even if you have already given it to others) as failing to do so may result in delays.

Please telephone us on 0208 460 2237 and we will arrange to send you out a letter containing all of the relevant information and forms and we will liaise with you via letter and telephone.

No. We only ask for your bank details if you want any surplus funds sent to you by electronic transfer.

Your most recent annual mortgage statement will contain this information. If you cannot locate a copy then you can contact your existing lender directly for this information.

If you have copies of the titles in your records you can locate the title number within the documents. Alternatively you can telephone the Land Registry or the solicitors that dealt with the purchase of the additional land for you.

We will need the name and contact details of your landlord, along with confirmation that your ground rent and service charges are paid up to date. We will also require a copy of the lease, which we can obtain for you, if you do not have one.

Most leases contain a clause requiring us to serve notice on the landlord, advising them of the oncoming charge and/or transfer of title. To receipt and return the Notice to us they may charge an administration fee which is not covered by your new lender. If applicable, we will advise you of the Notice fee so you can confirm if you are happy to proceed.

The Mortgage Deed - Paper Version

A Mortgage Deed, referred to by some Lenders as a ‘Legal Charge’, once signed, provides confirmation that you wish to proceed with the terms of your Mortgage Offer. Upon completion, the Deed is used to register the new lenders charge against your property, at the Land Registry.

Each party to the mortgage will need to sign their name on the left hand side of the Deed, where indicated by their initials.

The witness needs to be an adult (18 years or older), who is not related to you and does not reside at the remortgage property. Some lenders do not allow the financial advisor/broker to witness the mortgage deed.

No, we will date the Deed once completion of the remortgage has taken place.

The Mortgage Deed will be made available to you via the online case tracking system, or posted to you if you are not using the online system. If you need a further copy then you can log in and download one, or alternatively, Email or telephone us and we will Email or post another one to you.

Please return the Deed to us. We will be sending it to the Land Registry on completion of the remortgage. If for any reason your case is cancelled or you decide not to proceed then we will destroy the Deed.
If we have sent you another Deed to complete it will probably be because there was an error made on the one you have already returned. It may be that a financial advisor/broker or relative has witnessed it, which cannot be accepted.

Yes. We need the original signatures on the Mortgage Deed and as such, it needs to be posted back to us. An E-mailed/uploaded version will not contain the original signatures and so cannot be accepted.

The Mortgage Deed - Digital Version

The digital mortgage deed is a paperless service from the Land Registry which allows you to quickly and securely sign the mortgage deed at a time that suits you.
Only certain transaction types can use this service and we will let you know if your case is suitable at the start of the process. Examples of when the service cannot be used include if you are having a transfer of equity done or have an anti-fraud restriction on your property title. Also, if there is more than one applicant, you must both have your own mobile number which are different to each other’s.
You sign the digital deed using a unique code sent from the Land Registry service, to the mobile phone number you gave to us. Solex must have the mobile number. Email address and date of birth for each applicant.

You will firstly need to provide your identity using https://signin.account.gov.uk/sign-in-or-create. You and then choose to ‘sign your mortgage deed’. Once you have chosen this a unique code will be sent to the mobile number you provided us and you can then enter this code to sign the deed. Once signed, we will be notified that the digital deed has been completed.

No, you do not need a witness.
No, you both need to follow separate processes and you can do this at different times.
Yes you can use your mobile phone, tablet or PC to use the service but you must have the mobile with you that you gave us the number for as this mobile will receive the unique code to sign the deed.
If at any time you choose not to use the service we can change your case to a paper mortgage deed.

Mortgage Offer

Your new lender will send you a copy of the Mortgage Offer directly. It is important that you check carefully that the Offer contains everything that you requested and agreed upon when applying for the mortgage. If you are using a Mortgage Broker/Financial Advisor then please ensure that you have discussed the Offer with them before proceeding further with the mortgage.

Please contact your new Lender/Financial Advisor/ Mortgage Broker to discuss your Mortgage Offer and any questions you have regarding it. Please advise us of any issues or queries you have raised with regards to your Mortgage Offer, because we can only set completion date with a correct offer in place.

On 21st March 2016 ‘Mortgage Credit Directive’ was introduced which, amongst other things, requires mortgage lenders to offer potential borrowers a period of time to consider the terms of the Mortgage Offer, known as ‘the right to reflect’. The ‘right to reflect’ is usually 10 days, but can be extended, or waived.

You or your Financial Advisor/ Mortgage Broker will need to contact your new Lender to chase for your Mortgage Offer. We will receive a copy of the Offer around the same time as you.

Transfer of Equity

A Transfer of Equity is where a party is added (oncoming party) or removed (outgoing party) from the legal title to a property. For example a separating couple could be removing one of them, or a: friend, partner, spouse, a parent, child could be added.

This is generally a four stage process. In stage one, we receive instructions from the lender to act. In stage two, we request your instructions with regards to how you would like to proceed. In stage three, we issue the relevant documents to all parties concerned. In stage four, once all relevant documents have been completed and signed, we submit the relevant documents to the Land Registry so that the title can be updated.
Due to the additional work involved with the transfer, completion of the remortgage will take longer, but we will endeavor to deal with the case as quickly as possible. Providing all information requested in full and completing all documentation correctly and returning everything promptly will assist us greatly. If there is an outgoing party, the speed of their solicitors responses will also be a factor.
We would like you to use us, but you can use your own solicitors to act for you in the Transfer of Equity, if you wish. If you use your own solicitors, we can approve and register the transfer document with the Land Registry, on behalf of your instructed solicitor, but we will charge an administration fee. Your solicitors must ensure that stamp duty liability (if any) is fully dealt with and they must provide us with an undertaking to carry out the registration and Land Registry requirements.

Some lenders insist that the outgoing party uses their own solicitor or at least takes independent legal advice. If the new lender does not insist that outgoing party takes independent legal advice, the outgoing party can still use their own solicitors, if they wish. We will not give any legal advice to an outgoing party.

You will find our fees listed in the ‘Legal Fees’ section of the online case tracking area.

Stamp Duty (referred to as Land Transaction Tax (LLT) in Wales)  is a tax which may be payable on property transactions in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. We will provide you with further information in this regard, should we consider, from the information that you provide us with, that Stamp Duty Land Tax may be payable.

Redemption Statement

A Redemption Statement is usually a letter from your existing mortgage provider showing the outstanding amount owing to them for a specific property, at a specific date. The statement will also show any applicable Early Repayment Charges (ERC) that may apply. The Statement will enable you to see whether the amount you are looking to borrow from your new lender is sufficient to pay off your existing mortgage lender, whether there will be any monies left over for you (known as a surplus) or whether there will not be enough and so you will need to pay some monies towards this too (known as a shortfall).

We will request a Provisional Redemption Statement at the start of the case, just for information purposes, and we will send a copy to you for your records. This will not usually be the statement used to complete your remortgage as it may expire before the completion date and/or may contain Charges (Early Repayment Charges (ERC)) you do not wish to pay, so completion will be set for after the Charge expires. Before completion we will usually request a Final Redemption Statement calculated to a specific completion date, so that the figures are up to date. Again, we will send a copy to you, along with a completion statement showing the position of the monies.

An Early Repayment Charge is the amount charged by your existing lender for paying off your mortgage early e.g. you took out a mortgage with terms fixed for 2 years, but are going to repay the amount borrowed after 1 year. Any ERC amount expires once the previously agreed fixed term ends e.g you took out a 2 year fixed mortgage and are going to remortgage after 2 years and 2 days.

In this instance, please contact your Financial Advisor/Broker and/or existing lender with any queries regarding the figures on the Redemption Statement, as we are unable to assist you in this regard.

A shortfall occurs if you are not borrowing enough from your new mortgage lender to repay your existing mortgage lender, on a specific property. Depending on the amount of the shortfall, we may ask you to complete a ‘Source of Funds form’ and provide evidence as to where the shortfall funds are going to come from, to comply with the Anti-Money Laundering Regulations. Once approved by us, shortfall amounts can be paid to us either via your online banking, your telephone banking or by sending us a cheque.

Existing Mortgage Lender

You should not cancel your Direct Debit until you have confirmation from us that completion has taken place. Even if you have a completion date set, it is possible that completion may be delayed.

If we complete shortly after you have made your latest mortgage payment, and you pay in advance each month, then your old lender should issue you a refund for any over payment you may have made, shortly after completion.

Any additional Charges against your property, after your current main mortgage, will either need to be repaid and removed or postponed on completion of the remortgage.

Repayment would require us to request a Redemption Statement from the Lender/Company/person who hold the Charge and repay it, along with your main mortgage, on completion.

If the Charge(s) is to remain on the property then it will need to be postponed, in favour of your new Lender’s interest. This involves a Deed of Postponement (DOP) which would need to be executed by the second Charge holder before completion can take place. This enables us to remove your old main Mortgage Lender and replace them with the new main Mortgage Lender, ensuring your new Lender has first Charge and priority over your property. Your new Lender would first have to agree that the other Charge can remain behind it on the Charges Register.

Your existing Lender will usually charge an administration fee for closing down your account. You will be able to see any fees charge on the Redemption Statement we will send to you before completion.

General

Please inform us as soon as possible so we can close the file. Please note that we cannot advise your potential new lender of your decision not to proceed and so you must contact them directly in this matter.

A copy of our complaints policy can be viewed on our website or via this link: Complaints Policy. You can also request a copy of our complaints policy by telephoning 0208 460 2237.

Once submitted you cannot access and amend the content of the questionnaire. Any changes in your details or circumstances can be submitted via the 'contact us' section of our online portal, by E-mail or telephoning 0208 460 2237 (we may also require any change requests to be made by E-mail or in writing).

A property title number is a unique reference number given by the Land Registry for each property registered with them. The title number can be located on a copy of the register to your property, or you can contact the Land Registry directly for this. If your property is unregistered land, it will not have a title number and you can advise us of this.

Unregistered Land is land which has not been registered at HM Land Registry. Some properties in the UK are still unregistered and will not have a title number. If your property is unregistered then we will need the property title deeds, to establish ownership and so that the property can be registered on completion. If the deeds are with your existing lender or previous solicitors, then kindly contact them and ask for the deeds to be sent directly to us.

When checking the title to your property we will advise you if we discover any entries that need to be dealt with before the remortgage can complete. This could include a Restriction, a Matrimonial Home Rights Entry or a Unilateral Notice, for example. Entries such as these may require additional work to be carried out which may not be covered by your new lender and may be chargeable by Solex, if you wished to proceed.

If your name is different to that detailed on the title to the property, for example the Land Registry has misspelt your name or you have recently married and not updated the name change on the property title, then you will need to provide us with relevant proof of identification/evidence to enable us to arrange for the name to be updated on the property title. The reason for this is that the names on the property title must match those on the Mortgage Offer.

With Transfer of Equity and Shared Ownership cases, because you will become our client we will need identification from you. We will advise you of the documents we require.

Your security and the protection of your data and financial information are of the upmost priority to us. As such, we will always ask you to pass data protection security questions before we can speak to you about a case . This includes us making outgoing calls to you.

Please contact your new Lender directly about payments to them.

If we require a payment from you then we will notify you. Depending on the payment amount, before the payment is made we may ask you to complete a ‘Source of Funds form’ and provide evidence as to where the monies are going to come from, to comply with the Anti-Money Laundering Regulations.

You can make payments to us using your online banking, your telephone banking or send a cheque made payable to ‘Solex Legal Services’. You should ensure that your payment always quotes the case reference number.

This is a form which needs to be completed by anyone over the age of 17 living at the property addresses that is not party to the new mortgage. Some Lenders do not require children (over 18) to sign the form: you will be advised if this applies.

The form, once completed, gives the new Lender the ability to evict the occupiers should the borrowers default on the mortgage payment and repossession takes place.

Please note that your remortgage will be treated as a single transaction and Solex Legal Services Limited cannot accept responsibility for any financial loss suffered as a result of you relying on funds reaching you on a specific day.

Online Case Tracking

If you are having difficulties in first time registration for the online case tracking, please telephone us and we will arrange for the log in details to be reset and provide you with new details.

Please use the link ‘I’ve forgotten my username/password’ on the ‘log in’ screen and follow the instructions to be sent a reminder of your user name and/or a link to reset your password.

If we request documentation from you, we will advise you if it can be uploaded or if it needs to be an original sent via the post. The Mortgage Deed cannot be uploaded as we must have the original.

If you are having difficulties downloading documents you can try using another web browser e.g. if you are using chrome, try internet explorer. If this does not rectify the problem, then please telephone us and we will send the documents via an alternative method (E-mail or post).

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