As a first time buyer what is the most important advice you can give me regarding purchase conveyancing in Cambridge?
You may not hear this from too many lawyers but conveyancing in Cambridge or throughout England and Wales is an adversarial experience. In other words, when it comes to conveyancing there is lots of opportunity for friction between you and other parties involved in the ownership transfer. For example, the vendor, property agent and even potentially the bank. Appointing a lawyer for your conveyancing in Cambridge is a critical decision as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the SOLE party in the legal process whose responsibility is to act in your best interests and to keep you safe.
We are witnessing a distinct increase of a "blame" culture- someone must be blamed for the process taking so long. You your first instinct should be to trust your conveyancer above the other players in the conveyancing process.
The formalities of my remortgage has taken place for my property in Cambridge. Conveyancing was a necessary evil but I would like to complain about the lender. How does one go about formally complaining?
Most lenders have complaints procedures. Your first point of contact should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Care Team at head office. In most cases complaints to a lender are sorted out very quickly. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service, South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR who will take matters further.
I had an offer accepted on a house in Cambridge on 17/3/2025, valuation was booked five days later, received a clean bill of health. Solicitor appointed, so all that was missing was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Lloyds and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Lloyds conveyancing panel. Are Lloyds 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 Lloyds to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Lloyds conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
I have finally had an offer on a flat in Cambridge agreed to, the sellers do nevertheless have a tied purchase. The sellers have offered on somewhere, but it’s not been accepted yet, and have viewings of other properties in the pipeline. I have instructed a high street conveyancing solicitor in Cambridge. What should be my next step? At what stage do I apply for the mortgage with Coventry BS?
It is usual to have anxieties where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to be too out of pocket prematurely (home loan application is in the region of £1k, then survey, Cambridge conveyancing search costs, etc). The first course of action is to check that your conveyancer is on the Coventry BS approved list. Regarding the next phase this very much dictated by the uniqueness of your transaction, desire for the property and on the state of the market. During a buoyant market some purchasers would apply for a home loan with Coventry BS and pay for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they ask their solicitor to proceed with searches.
Various online forums that I have frequented warn that are the main cause of hinderance in Cambridge conveyancing transactions. Is this right?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) has noted the conclusions of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature within the most frequent causes of hindrances in the conveyancing process. Searches are unlikely to feature in any delay in conveyancing in Cambridge.
I used Action Conveyancing a few years ago for my conveyancing in Cambridge. Now, I need the files but the law firm has closed. 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 Cambridge of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously retained, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
I have been on the look out for a leasehold apartment up to £195,000 and identified one close by in Cambridge I like with open areas and railway links in the vicinity, however it only has 51 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Cambridge in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a lease with such few years left?
Should you require a home loan the shortness of the lease may be a potential deal breaker. Discount the offer by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you may ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor concerning this matter.
How do I locate a Cambridge solicitor on the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society conveyancing panel? I drive a motor bike and am happy to travel upto 20kilometers to meet the lawyer.
You can use the tool on this website. Please select a lender and your location and you will see a number of Cambridge conveyancing lawyers locally. We have listed some Cambridge conveyancing firms towards the end of this page and you can ring them to check whether they are on the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society panel