I am in the process of selling my apartment in Prestbury and the estate agent has just e-mailed to warn that the purchasers are appointing a new property lawyer. The reason given is that the lender will only engage with property lawyers on their approved list. Why would a leading lender only work with certain solicitors rather the firm that they want to appoint to handle their conveyancing in Prestbury ?
UK lenders have always had an approved set of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the last few years big names such as Nationwide, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have acted for them for many years.
Lenders point to the increase in fraud by way of justification for the cull – criteria have been stiffened as a smaller panel is easier to monitor. 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. The purchasers are not going to have any sway in the decision.
The Prestbury conveyancing solicitors that just started acting on my house acquisition in Prestbury have suddenly closed. I chose them because I needed a lawyer on the Nationwide conveyancing panel and my family Prestbury lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take one hundred and fifty pounds for searches. What should be my next steps?
If you have an estate agent involved then let them know immediately so that they can let the sellers know 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 will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Nationwide 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 should be in a position to help.
Due to the guidance of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Prestbury in advance of retaining solicitors. I have been told that there is a flying freehold aspect to the property. My surveyor advised that some mortgage companies will refuse to issue a loan on this type of home.
It varies from the lender to lender. Santander has different requirements for example to Birmingham Midshires. If you e-mail us we can look into this further with the relevant lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Prestbury. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Prestbury especially if they are familiar with such properties in Prestbury.
Is it possible to change solicitor as I need to choose a firm on the TSB conveyancing list. I hired a family conveyancing solicitor in Prestbury round the corner but the firm is not approved by TSB
It would be our pleasure to assist you select a conveyancing solicitor in Prestbury on the TSB panel. Please note that the law firms that we work with do not pay us fee if you instruct them and are under regulation of the Solicitors Regulation Authority who oversee all conveyancing solicitors in Prestbury. In making use of search facility on this site, you can compare and instruct different solicitors and conveyancers both nationally and in Prestbury.
My father-in-law has urged me to instruct his lawyers for conveyancing in Prestbury. Should I use them?
There are no two ways about it the best way to select a conveyancing practitioner is to get referrals from friends or relatives who have experience in using the firm that you are contemplating using.