I am obtaining a mortgage offer from Santander. I intend to enlist the help of a Licensed Conveyancer in Shenley Church End. Does the Santander Conveyancing panel exclude conveyancers regulated by the CLC?

The Santander approved solicitor list is, like many other lenders, represented by the Council or Mortgage Lenders or Building Society Association, open to Licensed Conveyancers regulated by the CLC.

Me and my partner are purchasing a house in Shenley Church End. I might seem paranoid but how we can trust a solicitor? At some point we have to deposit funds into their account. What is the protection we have from them run away with our money?

Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.

Are all Shenley Church End Conveyancing Quality Solicitors on the Skipton conveyancing list of approved firms?

Some major banks and building societies now use the accreditation scheme as the kick off point for Panel approval such as HSBC and Santander. The Law Society’s CQS accreditation however gives no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. Nevertheless,the Council of Mortgage Lenders have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for firms wishing to remain on their approved list of firms.

We are getting the release of further monies on our home loan from Coventry BS as we intend to conduct a loft conversion to our property in Shenley Church End. Do we need to select a nearby Shenley Church End solicitor on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel to handle the paperwork?

Coventry BS would not normally instruct a member of their approved list of lawyers to handle such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel.

My colleague recommended that if I am buying in Shenley Church End I should ask my conveyancer to execute a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?

This is a search is usually included in the estimate for your Shenley Church End conveyancing searches. It is not a small document of about 40 pages, listing and setting out significant information about Shenley Church End around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, Local Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information concerning Shenley Church End.

Due to the input of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Shenley Church End in advance of instructing lawyers. I have been told that there is a flying freehold aspect to the property. My surveyor advised that some mortgage companies tend not grant a loan on a flying freehold premises.

It varies from the lender to lender. Bank of Scotland has different instructions from Birmingham Midshires. Should you wish to telephone us we can look into this further via the appropriate mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Shenley Church End. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Shenley Church End to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.

My step-son is about to join the property ladder, the home loan was agreed last week in principle. After the offer was accepted on house we telephoned the lender to progress the mortgage application. I was disappointed to discover that mortgage lenders do not accept all solicitor, they must be on their panel, is this correct?

Lenders ordinarily restrict either the type or the number of conveyancing firms on their approved list of lawyers. Typical examples of such restriction(s) being that a firm must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some have decided to limit the number of firms they use to represent them. You should note that banks have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any Shenley Church End conveyancer on their panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of conveyancing panels a few years ago and whilst there are differing views about the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms only carry out one or two conveyances a year. Those supporting conveyancing panel cuts ask why law firms should have the right to be on a Lender panel when clearly, conveyancing is not their speciality. To put it another way; would you want a conveyancing solicitor to represent you if you were charged with a crime? Presumably not.