I am progressing with the sale of my home in Purley and the estate agent has just text me to warn that the buyers are swapping solicitor. The excuse is that the lender will only deal with property lawyers on their conveyancing panel. On what basis would a big named mortgage company only engage with certain solicitors rather the firm that they want to appoint for their conveyancing in Purley ?
Lenders have always had an approved set of law firms they are content to work with, but in the past few years big names such as Lloyds Banking Group, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for more than 15 years.
Mortgage companies point to the increase in fraud by way of justification for the cull – criteria have been tightened as a smaller panel is easier to oversee. Banks tend not to reveal how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is hearing daily from firms that have been removed from panels. Some are unaware that they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. Your purchasers are not going to have any impact on this.
My lender has recommended solicitors on their panel based in Purley but I would rather use a conveyancing lawyer in Purley local to me. Are you able to help?
Far from all Purley conveyancing practitioners are on all banks conveyancing panel. Use our search tool to identify a Purley conveyancing firm on the on the mortgage company panel.
My wife and I are buying a apartment in Purley. I might seem paranoid but how we can trust a solicitor? On completion day we have to send money into their account. What protection do we have from them run away with our deposit?
Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.
Please help - my lawyer says that defective lease insurance is needed on my purchase. What is the level of cover for Purley conveyancing?
The appropriate level of defective lease indemnity insurance should be dictated by who who your lender is. It would differ for example between Birmingham Midshires and Bank of Scotland. Conveyancing practitioners as opposed to borrowers take out such policies.
Are all Purley Conveyancing Quality Solicitors on the Co-operative conveyancing list of approved practices?
It is true that some banks and building societies now make use of CQS as the starting point for Panel approval such as HSBC and Santander. The Law Society’s CQS membership however gives no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. Nevertheless,the Council of Mortgage Lenders have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for solicitor practices wishing to join their approved list of conveyancing solicitors.
I purchased a terraced Victorian property in Purley. Conveyancing practitioner represented me and Nottingham Building Society. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw a couple of entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold under the matching address. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?
You should read the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Purley and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with buyers. You can also check the situation with your conveyancing solicitor who conducted the work.
How difficult is it to transfer to a new firm as I have to appoint a firm on the The Mortgage Works conveyancing panel. I hired a high street conveyancing solicitor in Purley five minutes from me but the firm is not approved by The Mortgage Works
We will our best to assist in finding you a conveyancing solicitor in Purley on the The Mortgage Works panel. Please note that the solicitors that we list do not pay us commission if you instruct them and are authorised and regulated by the SRA who oversee all conveyancing solicitors in Purley. Using search facility on this website, you can scrutinise costs for conveyancing solicitors in Purley and throughout England and Wales.
Myself and my fiance have just had an offer agreed on a apartment and had meeting on Tuesday with HSBC for the mortgage. They have informed me that when it comes to choosing a lawyer that unless they are on their approved list of conveyancing practitioners then we will be subject to an an extra charge of £200. This is is due to the fact that they would then have to appoint a property lawyer to act on their behalf in addition to the one we select for ourselves and we will be on the hook for their costs. I have requested HSBC to send me with a list so I can obtain estimates only from their approved solicitors but was told that I need to check with each individual conveyancer to see if they are on the panel. Is there a simple way of finding out who is on a lender panel?
You can enquire of HSBC what their criteria for panel membership is for a conveyancer.Thereafter ask the conveyancer of your choice whether they fit that criteria and have they acted on loans for HSBC in the past. If the answer to those is yes, then just double check with HSBC. Another option is to make use of our search tool and we should be able to locate a lawyer in Purley on the approved list for HSBC.