I am progressing with the sale of my flat in Brixham and the estate agent has just telephoned to advise that the buyers are changing their property lawyer. The excuse is that the mortgage company will only engage with property lawyers on their approved list. Why would a big named mortgage company only engage with certain law firms rather the firm that they want to select to handle their conveyancing in Brixham ?

Lenders have always had panels of law firms that can represent them, but in the past few years big names such as Santander, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for more than 15 years.

Mortgage companies point to the increase in fraud by way of justification for the pruning – criteria have been stiffened as a smaller panel is easier to maintain. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is hearing daily from firms that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. Your buyers are unlikely to have any impact on this.

When can the exchange of contracts occur in domestic conveyancing in Brixham and do I need to be at the conveyancers office?

Where you are in close proximity to our conveyancing solicitors in Brixham you are welcome to come in to sign contracts. However, the lender approved solicitors we recommend offer a countrywide conveyancing service and give as equally comprehensive and professional a job for you when dealing with you by post or email. The executing of the contract is not the important part. A signed contract is necessary for the conveyancer to exchange contracts at the suitable time, which will usually be very shortly after signing. The exchange process is is usually a five minute process, although where an extended "chain" is in the mix, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Brixham)to be in the office available at the end of the phone to exchange contracts.

Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to our home are lost. The lawyers who dealt with the conveyancing in Brixham 10 years ago no longer exist. What are my next steps?

You no longer need to have the physical official documentation to establish that you are the registered proprietor of land or property, given that the Land Registry hold details of all registered land or property electronically.

Hoping to buy a property located in Brixham and I am already nervous. I couldn't find anything specific about Brixham. Conveyancing will be needed in due course but do you know about the Brixham area? or perhaps some other tips you can share?

Rather than looking online forget looking online you should go and have a look at Brixham. In the meantime here are some basic statistics that we found

How easy is it to change a solicitor as I need to find a Brixham based firm who is on the bank conveyancing panel. How simple is it to change conveyancer?

In the event that you have not formally appointed a conveyancer to commence the conveyancing and at this stage simply received an estimate as to costs, you're perfectly free to choose a different solicitor to carry out your work for you. The best way is to get recommendations from friends or family who have actually used the solicitor or conveyancer in Brixham that you're considering.