§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will bring up to date the information provided in his replies of 3 March and 22 March 1982, Official Report, c. 150 and 263, on trading losses.
§ Mr. RidleyEstimates for 1981, with revised figures for earlier years, are:
of a society in minimising the risk of error and also minimises the cost which has to be borne by the borrower. The drafting of the standard form of a mortgage deed is clearly a matter for the building society concerned, not the borrower's agent.
The hon. Member may, however, be referring to the practice of building societies in requiring a higher fee to be paid where a borrower does not employ a solicitor as his agent in the negotiation, than where he does so. It is open to the purchaser of a house to choose whether he employs a solicitor to act for him or not. But it is incumbent on a building society when lending its investors' money on the security of any property to be satisfied that there is a good title to the property. Hence, where an applicant for a mortgage has not a solicitor advising for him on the purchase, it is usual for the 287W building society to undertake additional work in connection with investigating and reporting on the title of the property offered as security.
It is essential that a society should take steps which it considers necessary to ensure that it has the security required by the Building Societies Act 1962. It seems reasonable that if a borrowers's choice of agent requires the society to incur additional costs to achieve this, the borrower should carry the cost rather than the generality of members.