The Acocks Green conveyancing lawyers that I appointed last week on my purchase in Acocks Green have without warning closed. I only went with them because I needed a lawyer on the Lloyds conveyancing panel and my preferred Acocks Green lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take £195 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 reasons beyond your control. 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 Lloyds 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 solicitors should be in a position to assist.
It is unclear whether my mortgage offer requires a lease extension. I have called my Acocks Green bank branch on numerous occasions and was reassured it wasn't a problem and they would lend. My Acocks Green conveyancing solicitor - who is on the lender conveyancing panel- called and was told they refuse to lend in accordance with their specific requirements. Who do I believe?
Provided that the conveyancer is on the mortgage company panel, they must adhere to the CML Handbook requirements for the lender. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the lender will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the lender to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years remaining.
My offer was accepted on a property in Acocks Green on 10/2/2026, valuation was booked 3 days after, all came back fine. Property lawyer appointed, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to HSBC and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the HSBC conveyancing panel. Are HSBC entitled to hold back the Mortgage pending the lawyer being on the approved list?
A lender would not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for HSBC to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the HSBC conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
After what feels like an age I have had an offer on a flat in Acocks Green agreed to, the owners do however have an associated purchase. The vendors have placed an offer on somewhere, but it’s not yet tied up, and are looking at other flats booked. I have chosen a bricks and mortar conveyancing solicitor in Acocks Green. What do I do now? At what point should I apply for the mortgage with Leeds Building Society?
It is normal to have anxieties where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to be too out of pocket too early (mortgage application is in the region of one thousand pounds, then survey, Acocks Green conveyancing search charges, etc). First, you should check that your solicitor is on the Leeds Building Society approved list. Concerning the next phase this very much dictated by the uniqueness of your case, motivation for this property and on the state of the market. During a hot market some purchasers would apply for the mortgage with Leeds Building Society and pay for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they pay their property lawyer to press on with searches.
I am downsizing from our house in Acocks Green and the buyers lawyers are claiming that there is a risk of it being built on contaminated land. Any high street Acocks Green conveyancer would know that there is no such problem. For the life of me I don't know why the purchasers used a nationwide conveyancing practice as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Acocks Green. We have lived in Acocks Green for 4 years we know of no issue. Do we contact our local Authority to get confirmation that the buyers are looking for.
It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing solicitor currently acting for you. Are they able to advise? You need to check with your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out life insurance to cover that same illness)
I used Arc property Solicitors a few years past for my conveyancing in Acocks Green. I now require my file however cannot find the solicitor. What do I do?
Do call the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Acocks Green of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously instructed, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
What tools are available to identify a Acocks Green law firm on the Halifax conveyancing panel? I have wheels and am prepared to travel upto 10miles to meet the conveyancer.
Feel free to make use of the facility on this website. Please pick a mortgage company and your location and you will see a number of Acocks Green conveyancing lawyers locally. We have detailed some Acocks Green conveyancing firms towards the end of this page and you can contact them to check whether they are on the Halifax panel
I work for a reputable estate agent office in Acocks Green where we see a number of leasehold sales derailed as a result of short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Acocks Green conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the buyer?
Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.
An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.
Acocks Green Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Queries before Purchasing
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On the whole the outlay for major works are not included within maintenance charges, albeit that there some managing agents in Acocks Green require leaseholders to contribute towards a reserve fund and this is used to offset against major works. How many years remain on the lease? The prefered form of lease structure is where the freehold reversion is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this arrangement the leaseholders enjoy being in charge if their destiny and even though a managing agent is usually retained if it is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants.