Portal based contract mortgage problems.

[Troy Lighthouse]

Dear CUK,

My mortgage fixed term period is coming to an end and I would like to renew and maybe move property. My working situation is that I have recently restarted contracting 3 months ago (after a 4/5 year gap of being PAYE). My contract agency now do all the contract agreements through a web portal, in the 'olden days' I was used to a contract signed by me and them.

The mortgage company want either 3 years of accounts (no good in this scenario) or a copy of my contract signed by both parties. But this is not available to me because of me using the web portal. When I have asked the agency if they can accommodate this request they are blocked by their own legal team in doing so; they aren't willing to specifically sign anything and say a screenshot of the web portal which shows the daily rate alongside the fairly generic Ts&Cs, which I can print out, should suffice. But the mortgage company (Halifax) is having none of it.

So I'm stuck, any ideas? Hope this all makes sense, any advice much appreciated.

[cojak]

I'm amazed.

You agreed to a contract that had no pdf that you could forward to a contract specialist for review and amendment?

What does your contract say in this regard? Does it explicitly exclude pdf copies? How did you sign it?

I don't blame the Halifax for their stance as this sounds as if the agency is a having a real laugh at your expense.

[cojak]

For the avoidance of doubt, I would walk away from a contract with these conditions, and I very much doubt that any regular poster on this forum would do anything different.

[Pondlife]

WCS


A contract that you don't get a signed copy of and cannot send for review...

DANGER! DANGER!

[cojak]

So print off ( ) and read the T&C's from beginning to end.

If there is nothing there explicitly stating that printed (and signed) copies are not permitted , then be persistent and insist that you speak to the Head Honcho - shout at him and insist that you receive a signed copy of the contract.

That 'Legal team' nonsense is a pile of pants and you can be sure that the agent is laughing at you.



If that doesn't work then you're stuffed - I would contact Dominic Connor (a poster here) and tell him your tale of woe. I'm sure he could make good use of it without putting your name in the frame...

[Ticktock]

I quite regularly use an agency who now have a web portal for the contract documentation. The unsigned original can be downloaded as PDF.
Once both the agency and I have signed it then the signed version is available on the portal and I can download this as PDF also.

I had thought that in this day and age a purely electronic signature would be enough, but apparently you still need the swirl of ink (I cheat and use a saved image of my sig, rather than printing, signing, scanning each time).

[cojak]

I quite regularly use an agency who now have a web portal for the contract documentation. The unsigned original can be downloaded as PDF.
Once both the agency and I have signed it then the signed version is available on the portal and I can download this as PDF also.

I had thought that in this day and age a purely electronic signature would be enough, but apparently you still need the swirl of ink (I cheat and use a saved image of my sig, rather than printing, signing, scanning each time).

That's different TT, you have a pdf with your (and the agent's I guess) signature on it.

[Troy Lighthouse]

Thanks all

To answer Cojak's question there is nothing to explicitly state that printed (and signed) copies are not permitted.

Without wanting to appear naive, I don't think my agent contact is having one over on me themselves. She has forwarded on the email chain from their legal team (she could make it up - but I doubt it) and she called me today to see how I was getting on with it with the mortgage provider, which she wouldn't do if she was, shall we say, trying to mug me off.

However as Cojak suggests, I need to be persistant with the agency and insist they provide a signed copy with all of the infomation I need. But thanks for the replies (so far) it is good to get a feel for how commonplace this kind of electronic contract based system is having been out of the contract game for a few years.

One thing in my favour is that my client is very pleased with me and is looking to extend, and this may need to be used as a bargaining chip (if that's the right phrase for this) to get my contract into a suitable format, but hopefully it won't get that far.

[Power Mortgages Ltd]

Thanks all

To answer Cojak's question there is nothing to explicitly state that printed (and signed) copies are not permitted.

Without wanting to appear naive, I don't think my agent contact is having one over on me themselves. She has forwarded on the email chain from their legal team (she could make it up - but I doubt it) and she called me today to see how I was getting on with it with the mortgage provider, which she wouldn't do if she was, shall we say, trying to mug me off.

However as Cojak suggests, I need to be persistant with the agency and insist they provide a signed copy with all of the infomation I need. But thanks for the replies (so far) it is good to get a feel for how commonplace this kind of electronic contract based system is having been out of the contract game for a few years.

One thing in my favour is that my client is very pleased with me and is looking to extend, and this may need to be used as a bargaining chip (if that's the right phrase for this) to get my contract into a suitable format, but hopefully it won't get that far.

Hi Troy Lighthouse,

I have come up against this issue before with a few clients and certain Agencies who only issue portal contracts. I find that persistency is often the best way forward as the Agency should be able to write a simple letter (which Halifax would accept) confirming the terms of your current role covering the following points:

Your name
End client name
Start date
End date
Day/hourly rate
Number of days/hours worked per week

So long as it is on their company letter headed paper, signed and dated Halifax will accept it. I cannot possibly see how confirming information which is already on the schedule on the portal and getting your Agent to sign it on behalf of the Agency coudl have any legal ramifications for them so if you persist and put it in that simple way they should be able to assist.

Failing that, it maybe beneficial to look at another lender who may be more willing to accept the contract unsigned.

Hope that helps?

[Troy Lighthouse]

Thanks PM, much appreciated.