My wife and I are hoping to buy a flat in Hastings and are in fact using a Hastings conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Godiva Mortgages Ltd have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Hastings lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent the purchaser's lender. 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 solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Hastings solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
The housing market in Hastings is hotting up. What can I do to hasten the buying process?
First, If the seller is applying a tight deadline to complete it is highly recommended that your conveyancer is familiar with the location as they will make use of local relationships and insight. It is even conceivable that they may have transacted previoushouses in the same street. You would be best advised to use a Hastings conveyancing solicitor. In addition, check that the conveyancing firm is on the on the approved list for your mortgage company. It is estimated that just under twenty per cent of Hastings conveyancing transactions are held up or jeopardised after finding out that a purchaser’s solicitor was not on their mortgage lender’s panel. In many cases this discovery resulted in the conveyancing being frustrated by an average of 21 days. It is believed that this issue affects in the region of one hundred thousand home sales every year. Almost all Hastings conveyancing firms can not act for certain banks so do check at the outset.
As someone clueless as to the Hastings conveyancing process what is your top tip you can give me for the home moving process in Hastings
Not many law firms shout this from the rooftops but conveyancing in Hastings and elsewhere in East Sussex is an adversarial experience. Put another way, when it comes to conveyancing there exists lots of opportunity for friction between you and others involved in the home moving process. For example, the vendor, selling agent and even potentially the bank. Selecting a law firm for your conveyancing in Hastings an important selection 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 protect you.
We are witnessing a worrying ongoing adversarial element to conveyancing- someone must be blamed for the process being so protracted. You must always trust your solicitor ahead of all other players when it comes to the legal assignment of property.
I am helping my step-mother sell her flat in Hastings. Does the conveyancer commission the EPC or do I organise this?
Following the demise of Home Packs, EPC’s was retained a required part of selling a property. An energy assessment needs to be commissioned before the property is put on the market. This is not a task that law firms normally arrange. If you are instructing a Hastings conveyancing lawyer they might help arrange energy assessments given their relationships with reputable local accredited person
My offer was accepted on an apartment in Hastings on 8/5/2026, valuation was booked 2 days later, received a clean bill of health. Property lawyer retained, 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. Can the lender hold off the offer?
A lender would not issue a mortgage 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.
Yorkshire BS have agreed my home loan in principle, my offer on a house in Hastings has been agreed to, what happens next?
The estate agent will want to know who your solicitors are (make sure the conveyancers are on the lender’s panel). Contact Yorkshire BS or the financial adviser and complete any outstanding paperwork. Yorkshire BS will appoint a valuer who will get in touch with the estate agent or vendor to book an appointment. Once conducted (assuming no problems) it takes approximately a week to get a mortgage offer. Yorkshire BS will issue the offer to you and your solicitors. The legal work will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Hastings.
I am buying a new build house in Hastings with the aid of help to buy. The sellers would not move on the amount so I negotiated £7000 of fixtures and fittings instead. The property agent told me not inform my solicitor about the extras as it could put at risk my mortgage with the bank. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.
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.
There are only 62 years remaining on my lease in Hastings. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What should I do?
On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to locate the landlord. For most situations an enquiry agent may be useful to try and locate and prepare a report to be used as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Hastings.
I acquired a split level flat in Hastings, conveyancing was carried out half a dozen years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Comparable flats in Hastings with a long lease are worth £216,000. The ground rent is £50 levied per year. The lease terminates on 21st October 2094
With only 68 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £9,500 and £11,000 plus legals.
The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of detailed investigations. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be considered and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action placing reliance on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.