What you can do right now

[Your full name]
[Your address line 1]
[Your address line 2]
[Town/City]
[Postcode]

[Date]

[Lender / Bank name]
Customer Complaints / Customer Relations Team
[Lender's complaints address]
[Postcode]

[Send by email and/or post — check your lender's complaints page for the right address]

Dear Sirs

Your reference: [account / complaint reference, if known]
Mortgage account number: [mortgage account number]
Property: [full property address]

Complaint and request for information: source and disclosure of a payment connected with my mortgage

I am writing to raise a formal complaint and to request information and documents concerning a payment made in connection with my purchase of [property address] on [completion date], financed by a mortgage from [lender name, or predecessor lender if it has since changed] in the sum of [mortgage advance, e.g. £XX,XXX].

Background

The purchase price recorded in my mortgage documents was [stated purchase price]. I have since become aware that a payment of [amount, e.g. £15,000] was made by [name of paying party — e.g. "Reed Capital" / "Read Capital" / the vendor / a third party — use the exact name from your paperwork if known, or say "an entity referred to in my solicitor's file as [name]" if you are not certain of the spelling], recorded in [where you have seen this — e.g. "my solicitor's completion statement" / "a CHAPS receipt on my conveyancing file"].

[Add one or two sentences here describing anything else you currently know or suspect about the payment — e.g. that it does not appear to have been mentioned in the certificate of title, or that you were not made aware of it at the time. Delete this instruction once done.]

I am concerned that this payment may not have been disclosed to, or considered by, [lender name] at the time my mortgage application was assessed and underwritten, and that it may not have been properly reflected in the certificate of title or other lender-facing reporting. I am writing to ask [lender name] to clarify what it knew, what it was told, and what its lending requirements were at the relevant time.

Information and documents requested

I would be grateful if you would provide the following:

• 1.   The complete broker submission and mortgage application pack for my mortgage, including all attachments, covering notes, amendments, resubmissions and any source-of-funds records.
• 2.   Your lending criteria applicable at the time of my application concerning incentives, deposit funding, third-party contributions, product eligibility and maximum loan-to-value (LTV).
• 3.   The valuation instruction, any full valuation file, correspondence with the valuer, and the property risk assessment, referral, approval and underwriting records.
• 4.   The certificate of title and completion documents as received and reviewed by you, including any report on title, completion report, covering correspondence, funds-release records and completion checklist.
• 5.   Your instructions to the conveyancer/solicitor acting on the mortgage, including any applicable Lenders' Handbook provisions and your Part 2 instructions.
• 6.   All pre-completion correspondence or file notes referring to the purchase price, deposit, incentives, or the payment referred to above.
• 7.   Records showing whether you identified, queried or considered the payment referred to above at any point before or after completion.
• 8.   Any material you rely on for a position that the payment was not relevant to you as lender, if that is your position.

Questions I would like answered

Please also provide a properly reasoned response stating:

• a.   whether you contend that the payment referred to above was disclosed to you before completion, and if so, how and when;
• b.   whether you say the payment was a vendor-funded incentive, a gifted deposit, a third-party contribution, or something else;
• c.   whether you say the payment affected the effective purchase price, deposit, or loan-to-value calculated for my mortgage;
• d.   whether you consider that the certificate of title and lender-facing reporting you received were sufficient to alert you to the payment; and
• e.   what you would have done had the source and purpose of the payment been disclosed to you at the time — for example, whether you would have declined or withdrawn the application, reduced the advance, required a larger borrower-funded deposit, required further information or a further valuation, offered different terms, or proceeded unchanged.

If your position is that you would have proceeded unchanged, please identify the contemporaneous policy, underwriting records and factual basis supporting that position.

What I am asking you to do

I would ask that you treat this letter as a formal complaint under your complaints procedure, investigate the matters raised, and provide a full and properly reasoned written response, together with the documents requested above, within [8 weeks, or your lender's stated complaint timescale] of the date of this letter.

Please also confirm that all historic underwriting, broker, valuation, conveyancing, complaint and account records relevant to this matter will be preserved pending the outcome of my complaint.

Next steps if this is not resolved

If I do not receive a satisfactory response, or do not receive your final response within 8 weeks, I may refer this complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. I reserve my position in relation to any further steps, including a claim against you, arising out of the matters raised in this letter.

[Optional: if you have already been through your lender's complaints process and/or the Financial Ombudsman Service on this issue, say so here and ask whether the specific points above were considered as part of that investigation. Delete this instruction once done, or delete the whole sentence if it doesn't apply.]

Yours faithfully,

 

[Your name]

[Your full name]
[Your address line 1]
[Your address line 2]
[Town/City]
[Postcode]

[Date]

[Solicitors' firm name]
For the attention of the Complaints Partner / Client Care Partner
[Firm's address]
[Postcode]

[Send by email and post — check the firm's website for their complaints procedure and address]

Dear Sirs

Your file reference: [file reference, if known]
Property: [full property address]
Transaction/completion date: [completion date]
Lender: [lender name]

Request for clarification and documents: purchase price, deposit and information provided to my lender

You acted as the conveyancing solicitors on my purchase of [property address] on [completion date], completed with a mortgage from [lender name] in the sum of [mortgage advance, e.g. £XX,XXX].

I have identified a payment which may be relevant to the purchase price, deposit, incentive arrangements or information provided to the lender in connection with this purchase. I am seeking clarification of the facts and copies of the relevant documents. This letter is not intended to allege dishonesty or professional misconduct.

The purchase price recorded in my mortgage documents was [stated purchase price]. I understand that a payment of [amount, e.g. £15,000] was made by [name of paying party — e.g. "Reed Capital" / "Read Capital" / the vendor / a third party], recorded in [where you have seen this — e.g. "a CHAPS receipt on my file" / "the completion statement"]. I would like to understand what you knew about this payment, when, and what information was provided to the lender in relation to it.

I would be grateful for full and specific answers to the questions below, together with copies of the documents requested, rather than a general summary response.

Documents requested

Please provide the following from my file:

• 1.   My complete conveyancing file: all correspondence, attendance notes, file notes, emails and internal memoranda relating to the purchase, from first instruction to final completion.
• 2.   The report on title / certificate of title you sent to the lender, including any earlier drafts that differ from the version sent.
• 3.   All correspondence between you and the lender before completion, including anything about the purchase price, deposit, or funding of the purchase.
• 4.   All correspondence between you and the vendor or the vendor's solicitors concerning the purchase price, deposit, any discount, incentive, or third-party payment.
• 5.   The lender's instructions to you, including the CML Lenders' Handbook Part 1 and Part 2 instructions (or equivalent) that applied at completion.
• 6.   The completion statement and the client account ledger showing receipt and application of all funds passing through your hands, including the payment referred to above.
• 7.   Any file note or record of any conversation, with anyone, about the source of the deposit or the balance of the purchase price.
• 8.   Your terms of engagement or client care letter confirming who you acted for on this transaction — me, the lender, or both.

Please provide copies of the documents to which I am entitled, including my client papers and my personal data. If you withhold any document, please identify the category of document withheld and the legal or professional basis relied upon (for example, privilege, a third party's rights, or a lien).

Subject access request. Separately from the request above, so far as the file contains my personal data, please treat this paragraph as a subject access request under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Questions

Please answer each question directly and specifically. Where a question calls for a yes/no answer, please start with that, then explain.

• a.   Did you know about the payment referred to above before completion? Yes or no.
• b.   If yes, when did you become aware of it, and how — and is this recorded on the file?
• c.   What, if anything, did you tell the lender about the payment? Please identify the document(s), if any, in which this was communicated.
• d.   Did the certificate of title / report on title you sent to the lender include the purchase price, the deposit arrangements, and the source of the deposit? If any of this was not included, please explain why.
• e.   Did you ask me, the vendor, the estate agent, or anyone else about the source of the deposit? If so, what were you told, and what did you do with that information?
• f.   Were you acting for the lender as well as for me on this transaction? If so, what did the lender's instructions require you to check and report regarding the source of funds, and what steps did you take to comply?
• g.   Did you identify any conflict, or potential conflict, between my interests and the lender's interests in relation to this payment? If so, what steps did you take, and did you tell either of us?
• h.   Does the file contain any note, email or record showing that the lender queried the price, the deposit, or the funding of the purchase, at any point before or after completion?

Next steps

I would be grateful for the documents requested and full answers to the questions above within [e.g. 14 days, or 4 weeks] of the date of this letter.

Please also confirm that the complete file, including electronic records, will be preserved pending your response.

If I do not receive a response within that time, or the response leaves the position unclear, I will treat this as a formal complaint under your complaints procedure. Depending on the response, I may also need to consider my other options, which could include referring the matter to the Legal Ombudsman — subject to their eligibility and time-limit rules, which I will check separately — or seeking independent legal advice.

[Optional: if you have already raised this with the firm, or complained before, say so here and refer to the earlier correspondence/reference. Delete this instruction once done, or delete the whole sentence if it doesn't apply.]

Yours faithfully,

 

[Your name]