I am getting a mortgage with Santander. I intend to enlist the help of a Licensed Conveyancer in Shoeburyness. Does the Santander Solicitor panel include Licensed Conveyancers?

The Santander approved solicitor list is, like many other lenders, associated to the Council or Mortgage Lenders or Building Society Association, open to Licensed Conveyancers regulated by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.

What is the first thing I need to know concerning purchase conveyancing in Shoeburyness?

You may not hear this from too many lawyers but conveyancing in Shoeburyness or throughout Essex is often a confrontational experience. In other words, when it comes to conveyancing there exists plenty of opportunity for confrontation between you and other parties involved in the ownership transfer. E.g., the seller, property agent and even potentially a lender. Appointing a lawyer for your conveyancing in Shoeburyness is a critical decision as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the SOLE person in the legal process whose role it is to act in your legal interests and to keep you safe.

Every so often a third party with a vested interest will attempt to sway you that it is in your interests to do things their way. For example, the selling agent may claim to be assisting by claiming that your solicitor is wrong. Or your mortgage broker may tell you to do something that is contrary to your lawyers recommendation. You should always trust your lawyer above all other parties when it comes to the legal transfer of property.

My flat in Shoeburyness is up for sale and I have accepted an offer. Will the conveyancing practitioner need to be required to be on the Co-operative conveyancing panel in order to deal with the discharge of my mortgage?

Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Co-operative conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their specifications fairly frequently currently.

I am buying a property and the lawyer has mentioned Chancel Repair for which the house may be obligated to pay because it falls into the area of such a church. She has mentioned insurance. Is this really required for conveyancing in Shoeburyness

Unless a previous acquisition of the house completed post 12 October 2013 you may expect solicitors conducting conveyancing in Shoeburyness to continue to advocate a chancel search and or insurance against a claim.

Am I better off to appoint a Shoeburyness conveyancing practitioner based in the location that I am buying? An old friend can carry out the legal work however they are based 300kilometers away.

The primary upside of using a high street Shoeburyness conveyancing firm is that you can visit the firm to execute paperwork, hand in your identification documents and pester them if necessary. They will also have local knowledge which is a plus. However nothing is more important than finding someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If you know people who instructed your friend and on the whole were content that must trump using an unknown Shoeburyness conveyancing solicitor just because they are local.