Me and my fiance are purchasing a 3 bedroom flat in Walkington with a mortgage. We like our Walkington solicitor, but the mortgage company advise he's not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the lender panel conveyancing practices or retain our Walkington solicitor and pay for one of their panel lawyers to act for them. This feels very unfair; are we not able to insist that the lender use our Walkington conveyancing practitioner ?
Unfortunately,no. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the bank’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 Walkington conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
We are about to sign contracts for a property in Walkington. We have hit a stumbling block. Our loan offer with Leeds Building Society runs out on 2/2/2026 but the vendors are suggesting a completion date of 4/2/2026. Can one prolong the loan expiry date?
The person best placed to deal with your concern is your solicitors who will hopefully assess if they better off negotiating with the lender, vendor’s conveyancers, estate agents or indeed all parties taking into account what has happend in your conveyancing to date.
Are the Walkington conveyancing solicitors identified as being on the Co-operative conveyancing panel, together with their details provided by Co-operative?
Walkington conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Co-operative conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Co-operative directly.
Can you clarify what the consequences are if my solicitor is suspended from the UBS Solicitor panel ahead of completing my conveyancing in Walkington?
The first thing to point out is that, this is a very rare occurrence. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have to instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by a regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit for a fee.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I have offered on two weeks back in what was supposed to be a simple, chain free conveyancing. Walkington is where the house is located. Can you offer any advice?
Flying freeholds in Walkington are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Walkington you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds very carefully. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Walkington may ascertain that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold property.
We are midway through purchasing a house in Walkington. Conveyancing solicitor has called to say the title is "Leasehold". Should this adversely affect the salability of the property?
Walkington conveyancing does not in most situations involve leasehold houses. The key factor here is the length of lease and the ground rent. If it's 999 years with a nominal rent, it's essentially freehold, so it shouldn't impact the marketability too much.
On the flip side, if it's, say, 50 years it is bound to have a material effect on the saleability, and probably wouldn't be mortgageable. The remaining lease term and ground rent will be specified in the lease to be supplied to your property lawyer.