I am one month into the sale of my ground floor flat in Little Bromwich and the estate agent has just telephoned to advise that the buyers are swapping property lawyer. I am told that this is due to the fact that the lender will only deal with solicitors on their approved list. On what basis would a major mortgage company only engage with certain lawyers rather the firm that they want to appoint to handle their conveyancing in Little Bromwich ?
UK lenders have always had an approved set of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the last few years big names such as Yorkshire Building Society, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for over 25 years.
Mortgage companies point to the increase in fraud as the reason for the reduction – criteria have been narrowed as a smaller panel is easier to oversee. Banks tend not to reveal how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. Your buyers are not going to have any impact on this.
My father informed me that in buying a property in Little Bromwich there could be a number of restrictions as to what one can do in terms of external changes to the property. Is this right?
There are a number of properties in Little Bromwich which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to execute external variations. Part of the conveyancing in Little Bromwich should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.
Can you point me to a directory of Skipton panel solicitors in Little Bromwich on the Building Society Association’s Website?
No. There is no such tool on the CML or Building Society Association websites. Very few banks make their panel listings visible on the web. If you are in need of a Little Bromwich property lawyer on the Skipton please make the most of our facility.
My offer was accepted on an apartment in Little Bromwich on 12/2/2025, valuation was booked 2 days after, all came back fine. Property lawyer appointed, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Kent Reliance and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Kent Reliance 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 Kent Reliance to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
My colleague suggested that if I am purchasing in Little Bromwich I should ask my conveyancer to execute a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is sometimes quoted for as part of the standard Little Bromwich conveyancing searches. It is a large document of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out important information about Little Bromwich around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Little Bromwich 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 plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data about Little Bromwich.
My wife and I have a renovated Victorian house in Little Bromwich. Conveyancing lawyer acted for me and Chelsea Building Society. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw a couple of entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold under the exact same property. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?
You should read the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Little Bromwich and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they sell they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also check the position with your conveyancing lawyer who conducted the purchase.
How does conveyancing in Little Bromwich differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build property in Little Bromwich come to us having been asked by the builder to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the house is built. This is because new home sellers in Little Bromwich usually buy the site, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct property lawyers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are accustomed to new build conveyancing in Little Bromwich or who has acted in the same development.
I opted to have a survey completed on a house in Little Bromwich ahead of appointing solicitors. I have been told that there is a flying freehold aspect to the property. The surveyor has said that some lenders tend refuse to give a mortgage on this type of property.
It varies from the lender to lender. Lloyds has different instructions from Birmingham Midshires. If you contact us we can check with the relevant bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Little Bromwich. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Little Bromwich to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.