My wife and I are looking to buy a home in Ellesmere Port and are in fact using a Ellesmere Port conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Barclays have this morning contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Ellesmere Port lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent 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 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 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 Ellesmere Port solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Can the conveyancing lawyers that you recommend handle right to buy conveyancing in Ellesmere Port?
We work with numerous conveyancing lawyers who can conduct right to buy conveyancing work Do call the lawyers listed in order to get a costs illustration.
I purchased a freehold house in Ellesmere Port but nevertheless invoiced for rent, why is this and what is this?
It’s unusual for properties in Ellesmere Port and has limited impact for conveyancing in Ellesmere Port but some freehold properties in England (particularly common in North West England) pay an annual sum known as a Chief Rent or a Rentcharge to a third party who has no other legal interest in the land.
Rentcharge payments are usually between £2.00 and £5.00 per year. Rentcharges have existed for hundreds of years, but the Rent Charge Act 1977 barred the generation of new rentcharges post 1977.
Old rentcharges can now be extinguished by making a one off payment under the Act. Any rentcharges that are still in existence post 2037 will be dispensed with completely.
I am told that my conveyancing solicitors will need to check that the building insurance when buying a house in Ellesmere Port. My lender is Virgin
Virgin have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. As of 10/10/2026, the requirements read as follows :
I used Wolstenholmes a few years past for my conveyancing in Ellesmere Port. I now require my papers however cannot find the solicitor. What do I do?
Do contact 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 Ellesmere Port 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 am purchasing my first flat in Ellesmere Port with the aid of help to buy. The sellers would not budge the price so I negotiated £7000 of additionals instead. The property agent advised me not reveal to my solicitor about this extras as it would affect my loan with Birmingham Midshires. Should I keep quiet?.
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 UK Finance website. UK Finance 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.