Is the fact that my solicitor in Burscough is not listed on my mortgage company's conveyancing panel that there is a problem with the standard of her work?
It would not be wise to jump to that conclusion. There are plenty of reasonable explanations. A recent report by the solicitors regulator revealed that over three quarters of law firms surveyed had been removed from at least one lender panel. The top 5 reasons are as follows: (1) lack of transactions (2) the lawyer is a sole practitioner (3) as part of the HSBC panel reduction (4) regulatory contact by SRA (5) accidental removal. Should you be concerned you should simply call the Burscough conveyancing firm and enquire why they are no longer on the approved list for your mortgage company.
Can I use your services to find a Conveyancing solicitor in Burscough even where I’m not buying or disposing of a house, for instance where I want to buy an office in Burscough with a mortgage from Santander?
Our comparison service is predominantly there to select domestic conveyancing solicitors in Burscough but we have listed at the end of this page a few Burscough commercial conveyancing firms. You will need to make contact with the firm directly to establish if they can also act for Santander
What happens if my solicitor is expelled from the UBS Solicitor panel ahead of completing my conveyancing in Burscough?
The first thing to point out is that, this is a very rare occurrence. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have to instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by a regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit for a fee.
We had appointed conveyancing lawyers based in Burscough on the Skipton solicitor approved list. They are now charging me a further sum for the legal aspects of the Skipton mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee specified by Skipton?
Unfortunately, so long as it is in their Terms of Engagement or estimate then yes your lawyer may levy a fee for this. This charge is not set by Skipton but by your Burscough lawyer. Plenty of firms on the Skipton panel will charge ’dealing with mortgage’ fee and others do not.
The mortgage over my property is with Nationwide for my property in Burscough. Conveyancing has been completed some time ago. If I am intending to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform Nationwide?
Nationwide must be informed of your intention prior to renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Nationwide’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Nationwide will permit you to let out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Nationwide directly. You need not do this via a Nationwide conveyancing panel solicitor.
My offer was accepted on a property in Burscough on 29/7/2025, valuation was booked 4 days after, received a clean bill of health. Conveyancer appointed, so all that was missing was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Virgin Money and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel. Are Virgin Money entitled to hold back the Mortgage pending the lawyer being on the approved list?
Mortgage companies tend not to not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Virgin Money to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I put an offer in a fortnight ago in what was supposed to be a straight forward, chain free conveyancing. Burscough is the location of the property. Can you shed any light on this issue?
Flying freeholds in Burscough are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Burscough you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds thoroughly. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Burscough 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 property.
Am I right to be concerned about third parties that I am dealing with are encouraging me to use a nationwide conveyancing firm as opposed to a High Street Burscough conveyancing firm?
As is the case with many professional services, often referrals from connections can be worth their weight in gold. Yet there are numerous parties with a keen interest in a conveyancing matter; estate agents, mortgage brokers and lenders may put forward solicitors to instruct. Sometimes these lawyers might be known to one of the organisations as being good in their field, but occasionally there may be a financial incentive behind the endorsement. You are free to choose your own conveyancer. However, bear in mind that many lenders specify a panel list of law firms you are obliged to use for the mortgage related work in your transaction.