I am selling my house in Selhurst and the estate agent has just called to advise that the purchasers are appointing a new law firm. I am told that this is due to the fact that the bank will only engage with property lawyers on their approved list. Why would a major lender only engage with certain law firms rather the firm that they want to select for their conveyancing in Selhurst ?
UK lenders have always had panels of law firms that can act for them, but in the last few years big names such as Santander, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for more than 15 years.
Lending institutions blame a rise in fraud by way of justification for the pruning – criteria have been narrowed as a smaller panel is easier to oversee. Banks tend not to disclose how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Some do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. The purchasers are unlikely to have any impact on this.
My grandmother passed away last year and as sole heir and executor I was left the property in Selhurst. The house had a relatively small loan remaining of approximately £8000. I want to have the title changed into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Leeds Building Society, pay off the mortgage. Is this possible?
Given you plan to refinance then Leeds Building Society will require that you use a conveyancer on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the Leeds Building Society mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
is it true that all Selhurst solicitor practices on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel are regulated by the SRA?
As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel they would need to be governed by the SRA. Some lenders do list licenced conveyancers on their panel and in such a situation the practice would be overseen by the CLC.
The mortgage over my property is with Yorkshire BS for my property in Selhurst. Conveyancing has been completed months ago. If I am intending to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Yorkshire BS?
Your original mortgage agreement with Yorkshire BS will provide that you need their approval before letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Yorkshire BS’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Yorkshire BS 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 Yorkshire BS directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel solicitor.
My offer was accepted on an apartment in Selhurst on 13/1/2026, valuation was booked five days later, all came back fine. Solicitor retained, so all that was missing was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Barclays and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Barclays conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?
Mortgage companies tend not to not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Barclays to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Barclays conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
I am 18 days into a leasehold purchase having been directed to conveyancers by the local agent to carry out the conveyancing in Selhurst. I am am starting to be frustrated with the quality of service. Could you help me find new conveyancers?
They would have to be very bad in order to consider diss instructing them. Has your loan offer been generated? If so you need to make them aware of the replacement solicitor and have the loan are issued to the new lawyers. Your new solicitor ideally needs to be on the banks panel to avoid escalating costs and delays. So that should be your first question of the new conveyancers. The find a solicitor tool will assist you in finding a bank approved conveyancer for your home move in Selhurst
Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Selhurst from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?
- Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Selhurst can be reduced where you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the buyers’ conveyancers. In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Selhurst leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord approving such changes. If you fail to have the consents to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your conveyancer first. A minority of Selhurst leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the yearly service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors. The majority of freeholders or managing agents in Selhurst charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management information sought on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Selhurst. If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where a dispute is ongoing. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as historic rather than unsettled.
We have reached the end of our tether in trying to purchase the freehold in Selhurst. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?
Absolutely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Selhurst conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Selhurst flat is Flats 55, 67 & 70 Melbourne Court Anerley Road in July 2013. The tribunal calculated that the premium for the extended lease at £48,366.00 for at 55, and £88,329.00 for ats 67 and 70 combined. This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired residue of the current lease was 26.38 years.
Having used your search tool I can't find the lawyer I was hoping to instruct as being on the lender conveyancing panel. My lawyer has said that they are on the bank approved panel. How can I be sure given that they are not listed on your directory?
Not all firms are yet listed on our lender panel search tool which is still relatively new. Law firms are listing on a daily basis and it is probably the case that your lawyer is on the lender conveyancing lawyer and you should probably take them at their word. Please do feel free to suggest that they completing their listing on our site as it would only cost them £1 a month to list themselves as being on the mortgage company solicitor panel.