My fiance and I are hoping to purchase a property in Crawley and have instructed a Crawley conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Bank of Scotland have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Crawley solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?

When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for the purchaser's lender. 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 property lawyer should contact your lender 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 bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Crawley solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.

Do the conveyancing solicitors identified via your search tool carry out attended exchange conveyancing in Crawley?

We do have a number of conveyancing experts carrying out one day exchanges. Do call us to obtain a fee calculation and details as to availability.

In what way does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in Crawley? Is this really warranted?

To satisfy the Money Laundering Regulations any Crawley conveyancing firm will require proof of identity in all conveyancing matters. This is normally satisfied by provision of a passport and an original bank statement or utility account evidencing your correct address.

Under Money Laundering Regulations, conveyancing solicitors are duty bound to check not simply the ID of conveyancing clients but also the source of fund that they receive in respect of any matter. An unwillingness to disclose this may lead to your conveyancer terminating their retainer with you, as clearly this will cause a conflict between the set Regulations and a refusal to disclose.

Your property lawyers are duty bound to inform the appropriate authorities should they believe that any monies received by them may contravene the Anti-terror and anti-money-laundering rules.

I had intended to instruct a property lawyer in Crawley for our house move. Our financial adviser has since notified us that our mortgage lenders Chelsea Building Society won't deal with them. Why is this not regarded as unfair competition?

Banks in the main imposes restrictions either the category or the volume of conveyancing firms on their panel. Typical examples of such criteria being that a firm must not be a sole practitioner. As well as restricting the type of firm, a few lenders have decided to limit the amount of solicitor practices they use to act for them. You should note that Chelsea Building Society have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any member of Chelsea Building Society Conveyancer Panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of solicitor panels since 2008 even though there remains mixed views regarding the level of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that plenty of law firms, including some in or near Crawley only execute one or two conveyances a year.

Just had an offer accepted on a new build flat in Crawley. Conveyancing is a frightening process at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build legal work.

Set out below is a sample of a few leasehold new build questions that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Crawley

Please confirm the Lease plans are surveyor prepared. Investor purchasers must be able to freely grant unsecured tenancies at market rents without requiring any consents. Please supply a car parking plan. The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided. Has the Lease plan been approved by the Land Registry and if not when will they be lodged for this purpose?