I am purchasing property in Patcham. My property lawyer has never been on on the mortgage company solicitor panel. Is it possible for me to appoint my Patcham conveyancing solicitor even though they are not on the mortgage company panel?
You have a number of options available to you here
- Carry on with your chosen Patcham lawyer but your lender will no doubt instruct a property lawyer on their approved list. This will result in additional cost and likely frustration.
- Choose a new lawyer to conduct the conveyancing, obviously checking they are on the bank conveyancing panel.
- Convince your property lawyer to pull out all the stops to get accepted on the bank’s conveyancing panel
As someone not used to the Patcham conveyancing process what’s your top tip you can impart for the home moving process in Patcham
Not many law firms shout this from the rooftops but conveyancing in Patcham or throughout England and Wales is an adversarial process. Put another way, when it comes to conveyancing there is plenty of opportunity for friction between you and others involved in the legal transfer of property. For example, the seller, estate agent and even potentially a bank. Choosing a law firm for your conveyancing in Patcham is a critical decision as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the ONLY party in the legal process whose responsibility is to protect your best interests and to keep you safe.
We are witnessing a distinct ongoing adversarial element to conveyancing- someone must be blamed for the process taking so long. We recommend that you should always trust your lawyer ahead of the other players when it comes to the legal transfer of property.
I am told that my conveyancing solicitors will need to check that the building insurance for my purchase of a house in Patcham. My lender is Bank of Ireland
Bank of Ireland have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. As of 20/7/2025, the requirements read as follows :
We are buying a 4 bedroom semi-detached house in Patcham. Our aim is to convert the garage to an office at the property.Will legal conveyancing on the property involve investigations to ascertain if these alterations are allowed?
Your property lawyer should check the registered title as conveyancing in Patcham can sometimes reveal restrictions in the title deeds which restrict categories of changes or require the permission of a 3rd party. Certain extensions call for local authority planning permissions and approval in accordance building regulations. Certain areas are designated conservation areas and special planning restrictions apply which often prevent or impact extensions. You should check these issues with a surveyor prior to committing yourself to a purchase.
My wife and I have organised a further advance on our mortgage from Coventry BS as we want to carry out renovations to our property in Patcham. Do we need to select a high street Patcham solicitor on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel to deal with the paperwork?
Coventry BS would not normally appoint a member of their approved list of lawyers to deal with the formalities. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Coventry BS panel.
I am due to exchange contracts on my house. I had a double glazing fitted in August 2006, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My purchaser’s lender, Principality are being a right pain. The Patcham solicitor who is on the Principality conveyancing panel is happy to accept ‘lack of building regulation’ insurance but Principality are requiring a building regulation certificate. Why do Principality have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?
It is probably the case that Principality have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why Principality may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing was correctly and safely installed. The indemnity insurance merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.
We are 18 days into a residential purchase having been recommend to solicitors by the local agent to do our conveyancing in Patcham. We are not happy. Could you you assist me in finding new solicitors?
They would have to be very bad to suggest replacing them. Has your loan offer been issued? If so you must make them aware of the new contact details and get the loan are issued to the new lawyers. The conveyancer needs to be on the lenders approved list to avoid escalating charges and complications. So that should be your first question of the new solicitors. The search tool should assist you in finding a lender approved solicitor for your home move in Patcham
I work for a busy estate agent office in Patcham where we have experienced a few flat sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Patcham conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?
Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.
Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.
Patcham Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Queries before buying
-
Best to be warned whether redecorating or some other significant cost is anticipated that will be shared amongst the tenants and could well dramatically increase the the service fees or result in a specific invoice. The prefered form of lease structure is if the freehold interest is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this arrangement the leaseholders enjoy being in charge if their destiny and even though a managing agent is often employed if it is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves. For many Patcham leaseholds the outlay for major works are not included within maintenance charges, although there some managing agents in Patcham obliged leaseholders to contribute towards a sinking fund and this is used to offset against major repairs or maintenance.