My wife and I are hoping to acquire a home in Atherton and are in fact using a Atherton conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Chelsea Building Society have this morning contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Atherton conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?

Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for the mortgage company. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Atherton solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.

I purchased a freehold house in Atherton but still charged rent, why is this and what is this?

It is rare for properties in Atherton and has limited impact for conveyancing in Atherton but some freehold properties in England (particularly common in North West England) pay an annual sum known as a Chief Rent or a Rentcharge to a third party who has no other legal interest in the land.

Rentcharge payments are usually between £2.00 and £5.00 per year. Rentcharges have existed for hundreds of years, but the Rent Charge Act 1977 barred the establishment of fresh rentcharges from 1977 onwards.

Previous rentcharges can now be extinguished by making a lump sum payment under the Act. Any rentcharges that are still in existence in 2037 will be dispensed with completely.

I am purchasing a semi-detached house in Atherton. Conveyancing solicitors are said to be ‘a necessary evil’ but can I do it myself?

Leaving aside the complexities and merits of DIY conveyancing in Atherton you will have to appoint a solicitor on your bank's conveyancing panel to look after their interests. Most people therefore find it easier to let the solicitor act for them and the lender. Furthermore there is minimal cost savings to be made in you doing conveyancing for yourself and another lawyer conducting the conveyancing for the lender. Please feel free to use the search tool to find a lawyer on your lender panel in Atherton.

Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified as part of conveyancing in Atherton?

Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in Atherton. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’

How do I locate a Atherton solicitor on the Barclays Direct conveyancing panel? I am a keen cyclist and am prepared to travel upto 10kilometers to meet the lawyer.

You can use the tool on this website. Please select a bank and your location and you will see a number of Atherton conveyancing lawyers based on proximity. We have listed some Atherton conveyancing firms towards the end of this page and you can call them to check if they are on the Barclays Direct panel