I am progressing with the sale of my flat in Westbury and the estate agent has just called to say that the purchasers are switching law firm. The reason given is that the bank will only deal with property lawyers on their approved list. On what basis would a big named mortgage company only deal with specific law firms rather the firm that they want to select for their conveyancing in Westbury ?

Banks have always had panels of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the past few years big names such as Santander, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have acted for them for decades.

Banks point to the increase in fraud by way of justification for the reduction – criteria have been narrowed as a smaller panel is easier to monitor. 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. Plenty of firms do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. The purchasers are not going to have any sway in the decision.

Can conveyancing in Westbury to be done in under 3 weeks?

In the event that the seller is applying pressure to complete we would recommend that your lawyer is familiar with the area as they will make use of local contacts and knowledge. It is possible that they could have conducted otherproperties in the same road. You would be best advised to use a Westbury conveyancing solicitor. In addition, double check that the conveyancing firm is on the member panel. It is claimed that 18% of Westbury conveyancing transactions are suspended or derailed after finding out that a purchaser’s conveyancer was not on their banks member panel. In many cases this discovery resulted in the home move being held up by almost three weeks. It is claimed that this issue impacts in the region of 100,000 home sales annually. Almost all Westbury conveyancing firms can not act for certain banks so do check at the outset.

How do I investigate if the solicitor carrying out my conveyancing in Westbury is on the mortgage lender’sconveyancing panel? I am looking to avoid the situation of having one lawyer for me and one for thus paying £187.00 plus VAT in additional conveyancing bill.

You should take advantage of the search tool on this page. Pick the lender and type ‘Westbury’ or your preferred area and you will see numerous conveyancers offices in Westbury or nearest you.

3 months have gone by since my purchase conveyancing in Westbury completed. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £150,000 when infact I paid £180,000. Why the discrepancy?

The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the premises from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.

I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I have offered on a fortnight ago in what was supposed to be a straight forward, no chain conveyancing. Westbury is the location of the property. Is there any advice you can give?

Flying freeholds in Westbury are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Westbury you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds thoroughly. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Westbury may decide that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold premises.