My wife and I are purchasing a 1 bedroom flat in Rottingdean with a mortgage. We like our Rottingdean solicitor, however the lender advise she’s not on their "panel". It seems we have no choice but to instruct one of the lender panel firms or keep our Rottingdean conveyancing practitioner as well as pay for one of their panel firms to act for them. We regard this is unjust; is there anything we can do?
No, not really. Your mortgage offer is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the lender’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. Another option that might be available is for your Rottingdean conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
I am acquiring a property without a mortgage in Rottingdean. I have resided for the previous dozen years in Rottingdean. Conveyancing searches are exorbitant. Given that I have knowledge of the area and road intimately should I not bother getting the solicitor to do all the conveyancing searches?
Provided that you do not need a home loan, then almost all of the Rottingdean conveyancing searches are optional. Your conveyancer will ’encourage you, perhaps strongly, that you should have searches completed, but she is duty bound to do this. One thing to take into account; if you are likely to sell the house one day, it may be of interest to your prospective purchaser what the searches disclose. There are plenty of instances where houses with day to day issues can still throw up detrimental search results. A competent conveyancing solicitor in Rottingdean should be able to give you some constructive advice in this regard.
I am considering mortgaging my property in Rottingdean, does my lawyer have to be on the Virgin Money Conveyancing panel?
In theory, you could use a solicitor that is not on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel, but Virgin Money would require one of their panel solicitors to be instructed to act in their interests, and you'd have to pay for this - so most people instruct a panel solicitor. It's also easier, as otherwise you'd have to deal with two solicitors for the same transaction.
There are a variety of conveyancing solicitors in Rottingdean but how do I know who's good?
We would encourage you not to go for the lowest Rottingdean conveyancing fees. You really do get what you pay for when it comes to conveyancing solicitors. A cheap quote may mean that the conveyancing solicitor is handling a lot of jobs at one time and you won’t get the quality of service and the attention that you need. It is, however, wise to use a conveyancer who has a fixed fee on a no sale, no fee basis. This way, you know exactly what you’ll have to pay in ahead of time.
is it true that all Rottingdean solicitor firms on the RBS conveyancing panel are regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?
As solicitors, in order to be on the RBS conveyancing panel they would need to be overseen by the SRA. Many banks do permit licenced conveyancers on their panel and in such a situation the organisation would be governed by the CLC.
I had an offer accepted on a property in Rottingdean on 15/9/2026, valuation was booked five days after, received a clean bill of health. Conveyancer appointed, so all that was missing was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Yorkshire BS and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?
A lender would not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Yorkshire BS to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
Me and my brother purchased a renovated Victorian property in Rottingdean. Conveyancing practitioner acted for me and Godiva Mortgages Ltd. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw a couple of entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold with the matching address. I'd like to know for sure, how can I find out??
You need to assess 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 Rottingdean and other areas of 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 mortgage companies. You can also check the situation with your conveyancing lawyer who conducted the purchase.
Due to the encouragement of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Rottingdean ahead of instructing conveyancers. I have been told that there is a flying freehold element to the property. Our surveyor has said that some banks will not give a loan on this type of premises.
It depends who your proposed lender is. HSBC has different instructions for example to Halifax. If you e-mail us we can investigate further via the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Rottingdean. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Rottingdean to see if the conveyancing costs will increase in light of this.