My fiance and I are hoping to purchase a property in Easton and have instructed a Easton conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. National Westminster Bank have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Easton conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage 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 Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer 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 lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Easton solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
The owners of the home we are purchasing have instructed a conveyancing practitioner in Easton who has recommended a preliminary contract with a down payment 10k. Are such contracts promoted for Easton conveyancing transactions?
This form of arrangement is unusual in Easton, conveyancers will often sway clients away from them as they detract from focusing on the primary focus, namely conveyancing and if you end up having your deposit forfeited then the solicitor is left exposed. In addition, there is no assurance that just because the seller has executed a lock out contract they will sell to you. They may be tempted to break the agreement if they receive a large enough offer to do so because a wronged party with the benefit of a exclusivity agreement will still have to show losses as a consequence of the breach and these may not amount to the extra amount that the owner may gain by reneging on the contract, however morally unworthy the behaviour is.
I am assisting my mother sell her property in Easton. Will the conveyancer order an energy performance certificate or should I organise this?
Following the demise of HIPs, EPC’s was retained a compulsory part of moving property. An energy performance certificate needs to be to hand before the property is marketed. It is not a task that conveyancers normally organise. Where you are using a Easton conveyancing lawyer they may be able to arrange EPC’s given their contacts with long established local accredited person
After months of negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Easton. My mortgage broker recommended their conveyancers. I paid an on account payment of £175. A couple of days later, the lawyer called me to say that they were not on the Aldermore 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 Aldermore 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.
I had an offer accepted on a property in Easton on 8/5/2025, valuation was booked five days after, received a clean bill of health. Solicitor instructed, 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.
We are selling our home in Easton and according to the buyers it appears that there is a possibility that the property was built on contaminated land. A high street Easton conveyancer would know this is not the case. It does beg the question why the purchasers used a web based conveyancing outfit rather than a conveyancing solicitor in Easton. We have lived in Easton for 5 years we know that this is a non issue. Should we get in touch with our local Authority to seek confirmation need.
It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing lawyer already. What do they say? You must 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 health insurance to cover that same illness)
I'm buying my first flat in Easton with the aid of help to buy. The developers would not reduce the amount so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The house builders rep told me not to tell my solicitor about this deal as it could put at risk my mortgage with the lender. Is this normal?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.
Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.
Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.
Should I be suspicious that estate agents that I am dealing with are suggesting a nationwide conveyancing firm as opposed to a local Easton conveyancing firm?
As with many service providers, often recommendations from connections can be extremely useful or valuable. But there are numerous players in a conveyancing deal; estate agents, financial adviser and mortgage companies might all suggest solicitors to select. On occasion the lawyers might be known to one of the organisations as one of the best in their field, but sometimes there exists a financial incentive behind the endorsement. You are free to select your own lawyer. You need to be aware that the majority of lenders operate an approved list of conveyancers you are obliged to use for the lender aspect of your house move.