Personal Guarantees and ILA solicitors in London and Essex
Personal Guarantees and Independent Legal Advice (ILA) arise in a wide variety of transactions including directors’ personal guarantees as a security in finance arrangements, third party mortgages, occupier’s consent to mortgages, joint borrower-sole proprietor mortgages. We are highly experienced in providing advice on personal guarantees and giving ILA.
It is a common condition of lenders that ILA is obtained from a solicitor before a finance transaction is completed. This requirement is to oppose any argument from a borrower in the future that they did not understand what they were signing or felt pressured or forced into signing the legal documentation.
In a landmark court case known as Royal Bank of Scotland v Etridge, eight borrowers challenged the enforceability of the bank’s security and right to repossess their properties. The court explained that banks are legally obliged to make sure that all borrowers obtain independent legal advice from a solicitor before signing their finance documentation. The solicitor should certify that they explained the terms of the finance documentation to the borrower and that they are satisfied that the borrower has signed the documents of their own free will and without undue influence or duress.
The provision of ILA protects lenders because it makes it very difficult for borrowers to subsequently argue that the bank’s security is invalid.
We commonly receive enquiries to give ILA on a quick turnaround basis as it is often forgotten about until the transaction is close to completion. The good news is that we offer a fast turnaround ILA service. We will:
- Ask you to send us copies of the documentation for which ILA is required.
- Give you with a fixed fee quote for our ILA service.
- Prepare a written report on the terms of the legal documents and arrange a face-to-face (either in person or virtual) meeting to advise you – these steps are needed because we need to discharge the obligations required by the lender’s solicitors’ certificate.
- If you decided to proceed in light of our advice, we will arrange for you to sign the legal documents and we will sign the Solicitors’ Certificate.
- We will return the completion documents to the lender or your transaction solicitors, if required, at which point we hope that your transaction may be completed.
Our unique selling point is that we understand what clients want from their lawyers. We will manage your transaction proactively, with careful attention to detail while never losing sight of the bigger picture.
While working with us you will have access to our strong network of other professionals such as accountants, independent financial advisers and bankers.
We offer a range of pricing options and will be happy to discuss these with you. As a client-centred law firm, we will be transparent with you about our pricing and actively manage these in line with our agreements.
