My partner and I are hoping to purchase a property in Wallington and are in fact using a Wallington conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Wallington lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?

When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is usual for the purchasers' solicitors 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 solicitor should contact your mortgage company 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 lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Wallington lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

is it true that all Wallington solicitor firms on the conveyancing panel are overseen by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?

As solicitors, in order to be on the approved list of solicitors they would need to be overseen by the SRA. Many lenders do allow licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such organisation would be governed by the CLC.

I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with . I assume I don't need a Wallington on the panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?

If you have finished paying off your mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the mortgage from the register. , and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:

1. but are not moving to another property
2. where has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
3. has instructed the Land Registry to do so

I've read lots of mortgage guides, I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Wallington solicitor - who is on the conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. Is that normal?

will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. Your will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by your Wallington postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with , you could contact them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors in Wallington.

What does a local search inform me regarding the property my wife and I buying in Wallington?

Wallington conveyancing often starts with the applying for local authority searches directly from your local Authority or via a personal search organisations for instance Searchflow The local search is essential in every Wallington conveyancing purchase; that is if you don’t want any nasty once you have moved into your new home. The search should supply data on, amongst other things, details on planning applications relevant to the property (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of 13 topic areas.

As co-executor for the estate of my uncle I am disposing of a residence in Neath but live in Wallington. My lawyer (based 235 kilometers from meneeds me to execute a stat dec before the transaction finalising. Could you suggest a conveyancing lawyer in Wallington who can witness and place their company stamp on the document?

strictly speaking you should not need to have the documents witnessed by a conveyancing solicitor. Ordinarily or notary public or qualified solicitor will suffice regardless of whether they are Wallington based

Wallington Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Questions you should consider Prior to Purchasing

What prohibitions are there in the Wallington Lease? If a Wallington lease has less than eighty years it will impact the salability of the flat. Check with your lender that they are content with residual term of the lease. Leases with fewer than 80 years remaining means that you will most likely need a lease extension at some point and it is worth discovering how much this would cost. For most Wallingtonlease extensions you would need to own the residence for a couple of years before you are eligible to carry out a lease extension. Are any of leasehold owners in arrears of their service charge payments?