It has come to my attention via my mortgage broker that my Palmers Green property lawyer is not on the lender Solicitor panel. What can I do to be certain that this is indeed the case?

The first thing you need to do is to call your Palmers Green lawyer directly. It is reasonable to expect your lawyer to inform you of the situation. Where they are not on the panel they may recommend you to a Palmers Green conveyancing practice that is on the conveyancing panel for your bank.

The Palmers Green conveyancing solicitors that I recently instructed on my purchase in Palmers Green have without warning shut down. I chose them because I needed a lawyer on the Aldermore conveyancing panel and my previous Palmers Green lawyer was not. I paid them 275 plus VAT in advance. What are my options?

Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then let them know straight away so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Aldermore conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers may be able to help.

When it comes to lenders such as Lloyds, do Palmers Green conveyancers incur a fee to be on the list of approved solicitors?

We are not aware of any bank fees to be on their panel, although some do charge an administration fee to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel submission.

is it true that all Palmers Green solicitors on the Co-operative conveyancing panel are overseen by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?

As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the Co-operative conveyancing panel they would need to be overseen by the SRA. Many banks do permit licenced conveyancers on their panel and in such a situation the practice would be governed by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.

My offer was accepted on an apartment in Palmers Green on 23/10/2024, valuation was booked 4 days later, all came back fine. Property lawyer appointed, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Barclays and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Barclays conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?

A lender would not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Barclays to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Barclays conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.

I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I put an offer in last month in what should have been a simple, chain free conveyancing. Palmers Green is where the house is located. What do you suggest?

Flying freeholds in Palmers Green are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Palmers Green you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds very carefully. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Palmers Green may ascertain that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold premises.

How much experience do your Palmers Green conveyancing solicitors have with Help To Buy, Shared Equity and similar schemes?

Palmers Green conveyancing lawyers help thousands of buyers move home every year and assisted lots of clients through the Help To Buy scheme. The chances are that whatever makes your case unique Palmers Green conveyancers have worked on recent similar cases.