My Conveyancer in Erdington is not listed on the Solicitor Panel. Is it possible for me to retain my prefered solicitor even though they are excluded from the list of approved lawyers?

The limited options available to you here include:

1. Complete the purchase with your existing Erdington lawyers but will need to instruct a lawyer on their list of acceptable firms. This will result in additional overall legal fees and result in delays.
2. Choose a new lawyer to act in the purchase, obviously checking they are approved.
3. Try to convince your based solicitor to seek to join the panel

When it comes to lenders such as , do Erdington face a fee to be on the list of approved solicitors?

We are unaware of any mortgage company fees to register on their panel, although some do charge an administration fee to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel submission.

I recently had an offer accepted on a house in Erdington. My financial adviser suggested a . I paid an upfront payment of £200. Shortly after, the contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?

You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.

I am due to exchange contracts on my flat. I had a double glazing fitted in September 2010, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My purchaser’s lender, are being difficult. The Erdington solicitor who is on the conveyancing panel is happy to accept ‘lack of building regulation’ insurance but are insisting on a building regulation certificate. Why do have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?

It is probably the case that have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing was correctly and safely installed. The indemnity insurance merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.

I appreciate that there are debates on Chancel Insurance on online forums. Am I compelled to take this when acquiring a property in Erdington? or I am told that there is an ancient law that could mean that homeowners living in a parish church boundary may be liable to pay for repairs to the chancel in proximity to the church. Is this suitable for conveyancing in Erdington?

Unless a previous purchase of the house completed after 12 October 2013 you could assume that solicitors handling conveyancing in Erdington to remain recommending a chancel search and or chancel repair liability policy.

I have recentlydiscovered that Wolstenholmes have been shut down. They conducted my conveyancing in Erdington for a purchase of a freehold house 10 months ago. How can I establish that my home is in my name in the name of the previous owner?

The quickest method to see if the property is in your name, you can make a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Erdington conveyancing specialists.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Erdington. Conveyancing and mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing practitioner in Erdington who previously acted has long since retired. Any advice?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to make sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to instruct a Erdington conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. You should note that regardless, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

Erdington Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Queries before buying

The answer will be helpful as a) areas may result in problems for the building as the common areas may begin to deteriorate where services are not paid for b) if the tenants have an issue with the managing agents you will want to know about it How is the lease structured? How many years remain on the lease?