My wife and I are planning to purchase a property in Penzance and are in fact using a Penzance conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Santander have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Penzance lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for the mortgage company. 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 Quality Scheme. Your solicitor 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 lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Penzance solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Do the conveyancing solicitors listed on your site execute auction conveyancing in Penzance?
There are a few niche lawyers we can put you in touch with those who can conduct auction conveyancing. Penzance is one of the many locations where our lawyers are based.
Can your site be used to recommend a Conveyancing solicitor in Penzance even where I’m not purchasing or disposing of a house, for instance where I intend to acquire a shop in Penzance with a mortgage from Halifax?
Our search tool is mainly there to get a quote from domestic conveyancing solicitors in Penzance but we have recorded towards the bottom of this page some Penzance commercial conveyancing firms. You should make contact with the firm directly to see if they can also act for Halifax
I am looking to sell my property. My previous solicitors have shut. I would be grateful for any recommendation of a conveyancing firm. Im based in Penzance if that makes things easier.
You should use our search tool to help you choose a solicitor for your conveyancing in Penzance. We have connected thousands of home buyers and sellers with regulated solicitors to ensure that the legalities of their house move goes smoothly.
Last May I purchased a leasehold flat in Penzance. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?
In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.
If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).
I own a garden flat in Penzance, conveyancing having been completed 4 years ago. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Equivalent properties in Penzance with an extended lease are worth £180,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 per annum. The lease terminates on 21st October 2083
With 58 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £22,800 and £26,400 as well as professional fees.
The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more detailed due diligence. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional concerns that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information before getting professional advice.
I yesterday found out that one of the partners of the law firm acting on the purchase conveyancing in Penzance is related to the vendor. Is this acceptable?
On the basis that there is no conflict of interest this is allowable. Where you are needing a mortgage then the lender may have a say as many mortgage companies have specific instructions concerning this. For example for Halifax Loans as of 12/9/2025, the requirements read as follows :