My husband and I are looking to buy a house in Midhurst and are in fact using a Midhurst conveyancing practice. 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. Aldermore have this morning contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Midhurst solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?

Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the purchaser's lender. 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 bank and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Midhurst solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.

Should lawyers request money on account for conveyancing in Midhurst?

If you are buying a property in Midhurst your solicitor will ask you place them with funds to cover the search fees. This will be the total of the cost of the conveyancing searches. If any down payment is as part of the sale price then this will be required immediately prior to contracts are exchanged. The closing balance that is due should be transferred shortly before completion.

Will my conveyancing lawyers need to check that the building insurance for my purchase of a house in Midhurst. My lender is Tesco Bank

Tesco Bank have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. As of 15/11/2024, the requirements read as follows :

Back In 2008, I bought a leasehold house in Midhurst. Conveyancing and Accord Mortgages Ltd mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing practitioner in Midhurst who acted for me is not around. What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to make sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Midhurst conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. You should note that in any event, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I acquired a basement flat in Midhurst, conveyancing was carried out April 2000. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Comparable properties in Midhurst with a long lease are worth £197,000. The ground rent is £55 yearly. The lease ceases on 21st October 2079

You have 55 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £31,400 and £36,200 plus legals.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed investigations. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.

Having used your search tool I can't find the lawyer I was hoping to instruct as being on the mortgage company conveyancing panel. My lawyer has said that they are on the lender approved panel. How can I be sure given that they are not listed on your directory?

Not all firms are yet listed on our lender panel search tool which is still relatively new. Law firms are listing on a daily basis and it is probably the case that your lawyer is on the lender conveyancing lawyer and you should probably take them at their word. Please do feel free to suggest that they completing their listing on our site as it would only cost them £1 a month to list themselves as being on the lender solicitor panel.