My wife and I are looking to buy a property in Church Stretton and are in fact using a Church Stretton conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Clydesdale have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Church Stretton lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is standard for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for the mortgage company. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your mortgage company and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Church Stretton lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
Can you help? My Church Stretton lawyer is informing me me that she is duty bound toorder Church Stretton conveyancing searches asthe firm are on the Santandersolicitor panel. Is my conveyancer right?
Unfortunately both you and your lawyer have little choice here. As you are taking a home loan with a bank your conveyancer has to comply with their conditions as set out in their version of the CML Conveyancing Handbook. Your conveyancing practitioner would have previously signed the Terms and Conditions of your bank’s conveyancing panel appointment which obliges them to follow the CML Handbook conditions . Even if you were a cash buyer you would be ill advised not to carry out Church Stretton conveyancing searches.
I am told that my conveyancing solicitors will need to check that the building insurance when buying a house in Church Stretton. My lender is Chelsea Building Society
Chelsea Building Society have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. As of 13/4/2026, the requirements read as follows :
I am helping my aunt sell her flat in Church Stretton. Will the conveyancing solicitor arrange an energy performance certificate or do I organise this?
Following the abolition of Home Information Packs, energy assessments was kept a required component of selling a property. An EPC needs to be to hand in advance of the property being marketed. This is not something that solicitors normally arrange. If you are using a Church Stretton conveyancing practitioner they might be able to arrange energy performance certificates given their contacts with long established Church Stretton energy assessors
This question may be naive but I am wet behind the ears as a first time buyer of a ground floor flat in Church Stretton. Do I pick up the keys to the house on the completion date from my lawyer? If this is the case, I will instruct a local conveyancing solicitor in Church Stretton?
On the day of completion you do not need to go to the conveyancers office in Church Stretton. Conveyancing lawyers for you will transfer the purchase money to the owner’s conveyancers, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you should be called to collect the keys from the property Agents and move into your new home. Usually this occurs early afternoon.
I recently had an offer accepted on an apartment in Church Stretton. My mortgage broker suggested a solicitor. I paid an advanced payment of £225. A couple of days later, the conveyancing practitioner contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Skipton conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Skipton panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
My relative advised me that where I am purchasing in Church Stretton I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
This is a search is usually quoted for as part of the standard Church Stretton conveyancing searches. It is not a small document of about 40 pages, listing and detailing significant information about Church Stretton 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 demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime statistics, Local Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data regarding Church Stretton.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I have offered on a fortnight ago in what was supposed to be a quick, chain free conveyancing. Church Stretton is where the house is located. What do you suggest?
Flying freeholds in Church Stretton are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Church Stretton you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds very carefully. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Church Stretton may determine 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 premises.