Find a Law Firm
approved by Birmingham Midshires

Birmingham Midshires conveyancing requirements for their panel are no better or no more complicated than most lenders. It is the case now the CML Handbook, the "bible" used by solicitors to establish lender requirements, is different for each lender. It is not clear if your lawyer is on the Birmingham Midshires conveyancing panel. If they are not, this does add further risk of delay as Birmingham Midshires will appoint their own solicitors to look after their interest.

On the face of it your lawyer has done nothing wrong as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to Birmingham Midshires .This is solely used to protect the Birmingham Midshires if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave.

It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of Birmingham Midshires had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders or BSA do not require online case tracking. Some law firms operate such technology and some don't.

Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then let them know straight away so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Most sellers would 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 Birmingham Midshires 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

It is not advisable proceed with a house purchase without a solicitor. The council's solicitor are not acting for you. You need a solicitor for a number reasons. One of which is to verify what plans the Council have for repairs and refurbishment for the next five years. Many leaseholders have been stung for contributions of thousands of pounds. In any event if you are getting a mortgage with Birmingham Midshires you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Birmingham Midshires conveyancing panel.

It is probably the case that Birmingham Midshires have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why Birmingham Midshires may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing correctly and safely installed. It merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.

In terms of the Birmingham Midshires mortgage, it is unusual that your ex-wife’s name remains on the mortgage but not on the title. It is conceivable that this is an oversight on the part of your conveyancers to ensure that her name was removed or even an administrative error on the part of Birmingham Midshires in failing to update their data. In any event, it should cause difficulty providing her name no longer appears on the Land Registry title and you have a court order ordering that the property is transferred to you.