My husband and I are looking to buy a home in Palmers Green and are in fact using a Palmers Green conveyancing firm. 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. Coventry Building Society have this morning contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Palmers Green solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is usual 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your bank 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Palmers Green solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Can you vouch for a Halifax allowed Palmers Green conveyancing conveyancer who can have us moved in within less than a month? Would it be better to use a high street Palmers Green conveyancer or a factory type firm?
We would be happy to suggest some excellent Palmers Green conveyancing firms. Another option is to visit the high street in Palmers Green. Visit a couple of law practices and ask to speak with a conveyancing solicitor for a quote. Explain your requirements together with the reasons and get an assurance on speed. Choose the one that genuine.
My wife and I are spending time looking at houses in Palmers Green and I am about to put in an offer. Is it sensible to have my lawyer on ‘stand by’? I intend to finance via a mortgage with Nationwide.
It would be wise to instigate your search sooner rather than later. After you have chosen your lawyer and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and forward their contact information on to the estate agent. Given that you are taking out a mortgage with Nationwide, make sure you remember to check that your lawyer is on the Nationwide conveyancing panel.
I have a mortgage with Clydesdale for my property in Palmers Green. Conveyancing has been completed a year ago. If I am intending to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform Clydesdale?
Clydesdale must be informed of your intention before renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Clydesdale’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Clydesdale will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Clydesdale directly. You need not do this via a Clydesdale conveyancing panel solicitor.
I had an offer accepted on a house in Palmers Green on 18/11/2025, valuation was booked 2 days after, all came back fine. Solicitor instructed, 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. Are Virgin Money entitled to hold back the Mortgage pending the lawyer being on the approved list?
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 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.
I used Action Conveyancing several years past for my conveyancing in Palmers Green. I now require my papers but the law firm has closed. 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 Palmers Green 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 decided to have a survey carried out on a property in Palmers Green prior to instructing lawyers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold overhang to the property. My surveyor has said that some banks may refuse to grant a mortgage on this type of home.
It varies from the lender to lender. Bank of Scotland has different instructions for example to Nationwide. If you contact us we can check via the appropriate mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Palmers Green. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Palmers Green to see if the conveyancing costs will increase in light of this.
My nephew is just in the process of moving house, he had his mortgage in principle. When the offer was accepted on apartment we called the bank to issue the formal offer. I was very surprised to hear that mortgage lenders do not accept all solicitor, they need to be on their approved list, is this legal?
Banks normally restrict either the type or the number of conveyancing solicitors on their panel. A common example of such restriction(s) being that a firm must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some have decided to limit the number of firms they use to represent them. You should note that banks have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any Palmers Green lawyer on their panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of conveyancing panels a few years ago and whilst there are differing views about the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms only carry out one or two conveyances a year. Those supporting conveyancing panel cuts ask why law firms should have the right to be on a Lender panel when clearly, conveyancing is not their speciality. To put it another way; would you want a conveyancing solicitor to represent you if you were charged with a crime? Unlikely.