My fiance and I are looking to acquire a house in Talbot Green and have appointed a Talbot Green conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Talbot Green lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?

If you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for the mortgage company. 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 property lawyer should contact your bank 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 are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Talbot Green lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.

is it true that all Talbot Green solicitor practices on the conveyancing panel are governed by the SRA?

As solicitors, in order to be on the approved list of solicitors they would need to be governed by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. Some mortgage companies do allow licenced conveyancers on their panel and in such a situation the organisation would be overseen by the CLC.

We have a mortgage agreed in principle with . Talbot Green conveyancing lawyers are instructed. How long does it take for to forward the offer to the ?

There is no definitive answer here. Have done the survey? Have you informed as to your lawyers' details and checked that your lawyers are on the conveyancing panel? It is not unusual for a mortgage offer to take a month to come through.

I have paid off my mortgage with . I assume I don't need a Talbot Green 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

How does conveyancing in Talbot Green differ for newly converted properties?

Most buyers of new build premises in Talbot Green contact us having been asked by the builder to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the property is built. This is because new home sellers in Talbot Green tend to purchase the site, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancing solicitors as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are used to new build conveyancing in Talbot Green or who has acted in the same development.

Is it best to use a Talbot Green conveyancing practitioner based in the location that I am buying? We have a good friend who can carry out the conveyancing but her office is 300kilometers drive away.

The primary upside of using a local Talbot Green conveyancing practice is that you can visit the firm to execute documents, hand in your ID and apply pressure on them if necessary. Having local Talbot Green know how is a bonus. However nothing is more important than finding someone that will do a good and efficient job. If you know people who used your friend and on the whole were content that should trump using an unfamiliar Talbot Green conveyancing lawyer just because they are round the corner.

How varied are the property law services that Talbot Green conveyancing firms deal with?

In the main Talbot Green conveyancing practices will handle various assistance to residential and agricultural land owners, vendors, investors, freeholders and tenants and you can expect them to offer expert advice on some of the following services:

Home sale conveyancing in Talbot Green or nationwide House purchase conveyancing in Talbot Green and countrywide New and replacement mortgages Shared equity purchase (part buying and part renting) Leasehold conveyancing selling and buying Council house conveyancing by virtue of right to buy legislation