I am 3 weeks into the sale of my ground floor flat in Westbourne and the estate agent has just text me to say that the buyers are appointing a new solicitor. The excuse is that the bank will only deal with property lawyers on their conveyancing panel. Why would a big named mortgage company only deal with certain solicitors rather the firm that they want to choose for their conveyancing in Westbourne ?

Mortgage companies have always had panels of law firms that can act for them, but in the last few years big names such as Yorkshire Building Society, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have represented them for many years.

Lenders attribute this action to a rise in fraud by way of justification for the cull – criteria have been narrowed as a smaller panel is easier to keep an eye on. Banks tend not to disclose how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Some are unaware that they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. The buyers are unlikely to have any sway in the decision.

Do conveyancers request money on account for conveyancing in Westbourne?

Where you are retaining lawyers for conveyancing in Westbourne your solicitor will ask you to provide them with monies to cover the the cost of the conveyancing searches. Normally this is requested to cover the fees of the conveyancing searches. When the down payment is as part of the sale price then this should be required shortly before contracts are exchanged. The closing balance that is due should be sent to your lawyer shortly before completion.

Is it the case that all Westbourne solicitor firms on the conveyancing panel are governed by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?

As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the conveyancing panel they would need to be governed by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. The majority of mortgage companies do allow licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such firms would be governed by the CLC.

We had selected conveyancing lawyers located in Westbourne on the solicitor panel. They are now charging me a further charge for the legal aspects of the mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee specified by ?

Unfortunately, so long as it is in their Terms of Engagement or estimate then yes your can charge a fee for this. The charge is not set by but by your Westbourne . Plenty of firms on the panel will quote ’dealing with mortgage’ fee and others do not.

Our offer on a property in Westbourne has been agreed to, but there is a chain. The vendors have offered on somewhere, however it’s not yet agreed to, and are looking at other apartments in the pipeline. I have instructed a local conveyancing solicitor in Westbourne. What should be my next step? At what point should I apply for the mortgage with ?

It is normal to have concerns where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to be too out of pocket too early (mortgage application is approx one thousand pounds, then survey, Westbourne conveyancing search charges, etc). First, you should check that your is on the approved list. Regarding the subsequent phase this very much dictated by the uniqueness of your transaction, desire for this property and on the state of the market. During a buoyant market many purchasers will apply for the mortgage with and arrange for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they request their to proceed with searches.

Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £235,500 and found one near me in Westbourne I like with a park and station in the vicinity, the downside is that it only has 49 years on the lease. There is not much else in Westbourne for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a lease with such few years left?

If you require a home loan that many years may be problematic. Discount the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current owner has owned the property for at least twenty four months you may request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer regarding this matter.

I was recommended by a number of property agents in Westbourne to select a solicitor using your seach tool. Is there a financial inducement for Estate Agents to offer your services over and above a competitor’s?

We don’t offer any financial incentive for sending work in our direction. We thought it would be too underhand a fee because members of the public would think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I getting any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.