Me and my partner are intending to acquire a 2 bedroom apartment in Newham with a mortgage. We would like to retain our Newham conveyancer, but the bank says he's not on their "panel". It appears that we have little choice but to instruct one of the lender panel solicitors or retain our Newham solicitor and pay for one of their panel lawyers to act for them. We regard this is unjust; can we not require that the mortgage company use our Newham property lawyer ?
No, not really. Your mortgage offer is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the lender’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your Newham conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
My partner and I are acquiring a brand new flat in Newham and my lawyer is telling me that she is duty bound to the mortgage company to reveal incentives from the builder. I am nearing the developer’s deadline to sign contracts and I don't want to prolong the conveyancing. is my lawyer playing by the book?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your conveyancer. A precondition to being on a mortgage company panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook provisions. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
I am thinking of refinancing my flat in Newham, does my lawyer need to be on the Nationwide Conveyancing panel?
In theory, you could use a solicitor that is not on the Nationwide conveyancing panel, but Nationwide would require one of their panel solicitors to be instructed to act in their interests, and you'd have to pay for this - so most people instruct a panel solicitor. It's also easier, as otherwise you'd have to deal with two solicitors for the same transaction.
We previously instructed conveyancers with offices in Newham on the Bank of Ireland solicitor approved list. They are now charging me an additional charge for dealing with the Bank of Ireland mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee set by Bank of Ireland?
Unfortunately, as long as it is in their Terms and Conditions or estimate then yes your property lawyer can charge a fee for this. The charge is not set by Bank of Ireland but by your Newham property lawyer. Plenty of firms on the Bank of Ireland panel will charge ’dealing with mortgage’ fee and others do not.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with HSBC. I assume I don't need a Newham conveyancing practitioner on the HSBC panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your HSBC mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the HSBC mortgage from the register. HSBC, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where HSBC has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- HSBC has instructed the Land Registry to do so
My offer was accepted on a house in Newham on 3/6/2026, valuation was booked 2 days after, all came back fine. Solicitor retained, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Nottingham and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Nottingham conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?
Mortgage companies tend not to not issue a mortgage until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Nottingham to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Nottingham conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold element on a house I put an offer in a fortnight ago in what was supposed to be a quick, chain free conveyancing. Newham is where the house is located. Can you shed any light on this issue?
Flying freeholds in Newham are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Newham 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 Newham may ascertain 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 residence.
Me and my wife are disposing of a Newham bungalow we inherited some years ago in 2010. I have over a decades worth of conveyancing know-how and, although retired, see no reason not to carry out my own legal work. The purchaser's solicitor has informed me that their building society will not allow us to do our own conveyancing requiring the funds to be transferred to a solicitor's bank account.
Mortgage requirements to property lawyers from all CML members state that If the vendor does not have legal representation the buyer’s lawyers should check whether the lender needs to be informed so that a decision can be made as to whether they are willing to move forward.