Much to our surprise we have been notified by our financial adviser that my North London solicitor is not on the bank Solicitor panel. How can I be certain whether this is indeed the case?
You need to call your North London conveyancer. It is reasonable to expect your lawyer to inform you of the situation. If they are not on the panel they could put your in touch with solicitors on the conveyancing panel for your mortgage company.
Can your site be used to recommend a Conveyancing solicitor in North London even if I’m not purchasing or disposing of a house, for example where I wish to acquire a shop in North London with a mortgage from Alliance & Leicester ?
The service is predominantly used to help choose residential conveyancing solicitors in North London but we have set out at the bottom of this page a selection of North London commercial conveyancing firms. You should make contact with the firm directly to check if they are also authorised to represent Alliance & Leicester
I had intended to instruct a conveyancing solicitor in North London for our house move. Our broker has since advised us that our mortgage lenders Alliance & Leicester won't deal with them. Surely this is unfair competition?
Pre- 2008 most banks had an appetite for risk which was higher than today. Almost all North London conveyancing firms would have been on many mortgage company panels. The financial services regulator in 2010 carried out a thematic investigation into mortgage fraud which come to the conclusion: mortgage lenders should know the conveyancing solicitors dealt with. Consequently, mortgage companies are increasingly seeing more data from law firms about their operations and the individuals who work for them as well as set certain criteria such a completing on a minimum number of transactions. Many North London conveyancing firms that have been excluded from lender panels have a 100% healthy track record, no complaints and no claims and didn't just 'dabble' in conveyancing. North London is one of the thousands of locations where the lawyers we list are on the panel for Alliance & Leicester .
We have agreed to purchase a house in North London. An unusual aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Nationwide have issued a mortgage offer so presumably this is not a concern to them. Why is my solicitor raising questions about the panel?
Given that your lender is Nationwide your lawyer must follow the conveyancing requirements contained in Section 2 of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Nationwide. The CML Handbook stipulates minimum specifications for solar panel roof-space leases, and conveyancers are required to report to Nationwide where a lease does not comply with these conditions. The provisions relate to the installation of panels on properties in England and Wales and is not isolated to North London.
I had an offer accepted on an apartment in North London on 18/11/2024, valuation was booked 3 days after, all came back fine. Property lawyer instructed, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Aldermore and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Aldermore 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 Aldermore to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Aldermore conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
After shopping around on the internet I have found a North London conveyancer having made sure that they are on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
Kent Reliance will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Kent Reliance will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own North London surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.
I am looking at a couple of maisonettes in North London which have about forty five years unexpired on the leases. Will this present a problem?
There are plenty of short leases in North London. The lease is a right to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As a lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease deteriorates and it becomes more costly to extend the lease. For this reason it is generally wise to extend the lease term. More often than not it is difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease because mortgage companies may be unwilling to lend money on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a difficult process. We recommend you seek professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area.
I am the proprietor of a second floor flat in North London. Given that I can not reach agreement with the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the premium payable for a lease extension?
Where there is a absentee landlord or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to judgment on the price.
An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a North London premises is 20 Avonwick Road in July 2013. The Tribunal was dealing with an application under Section 26 of the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 for a determination of the freehold value of the property. It was concluded that the price to be paid was Fifteen Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventy (£15,970) divided as to £8,200 for Flat 20 and £7,770 for Flat 20A This case was in relation to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 73.26 years.
My husband and I are acquiring a studio flat in North London. At the point of instructing our solicitor, we were told they were on all major UK mortgage company panels. The mortgage broker contacted us today to advise that they are not on the Santander approved list. Should that be true, what should we do? Do we simply find a different conveyancer that is on their approved list or should we pay for separate representation, with Santander selecting their own approved lawyer.
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is normal for the buyer’s lawyers to also represent the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a lawyer has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the solicitor to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict conditions which the lawyer has to meet. Some banks now require their panel firms to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your lawyer should call Santander to discover 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 don't have to instruct a firm on Santander's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own North London solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.