It is is a decade since I acquired my property in Blackley. Conveyancing solicitors have just been retained on the sale but I am unable to track down my deeds. Is this a major issue?

Don’t worry too much. Firstly the deeds may be retained by your lender or they may be in the possession of the conveyancers who handled the purchase. Secondly in most cases the title will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you own the property by your conveyancing lawyers procuring up to date copy of the land registers. The vast majority of conveyancing in Blackley involves registered property but in the rare situation where your property is unregistered it is more of a problem but is resolvable.

The Blackley conveyancing solicitors that I recently instructed on my house acquisition in Blackley have suddenly shut down. I chose them because I had to have a solicitor on the UBS conveyancing panel and my previous Blackley lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take £195 for searches. What should be my next steps?

If you have an estate agent involved then let them know straight away so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the UBS conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers may be able to help.

Do I find a Licenced Conveyancer or Solicitor for conveyancing in Blackley?

There are two types of lawyers who can carry out conveyancing in Blackley namely CLC regulated conveyancers or solicitors. Both professionals handle conveyancing services that you need to complete the disposal or acquisition of property. Both are duty bound to execute Blackley conveyancing to the same quality and guidelines so you can be sure that your conveyancing will be properly carried out and that all requisite steps should be suitably adhered to.

Is it the case that all Blackley conveyancing solicitors on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel are overseen by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?

As solicitors, in order to be on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel they would need to be regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. Some lenders do list licenced conveyancers on their panel and in such a situation the organisation would be overseen by the CLC.

My offer was accepted on a house in Blackley on 2/6/2025, valuation was booked five days after, received a clean bill of health. Conveyancer retained, so all that was missing was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Virgin Money and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?

A lender would not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Virgin Money to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.

I acquired my home on 3 November and the transaction details is not yet on the land registry website. Need I be worried? My conveyancing solicitor in Blackley advises it should be dealt with in less than a month. Are transfers in Blackley particularly slow to register?

As far as conveyancing in Blackley is concerned, registration is no quicker or slower than the rest of the country. Rather than based on location, timeframes can vary subject to the party submitting the application, whether there are errors and whether the Land registry communicate with any interested persons or bodies. As of today roughly three quarters of submission are completed in less than three weeks but some can be subject to longer hold-ups. Historically registration is effected after the purchaser has moved in to the property so 'speed' is not usually an essential issue yet where it is urgent that the the registration takes place urgently then you or your conveyancer should communicate with the Registry to express the reasoning for an expedited registration.

What makes a Blackley lease problematic?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Blackley. All leases are drafted differently and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain clauses are not included. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.

You could have a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Birmingham Midshires, Barnsley Building Society, and Godiva Mortgages Ltd all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to provide security, obliging the purchaser to withdraw.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Blackley - Sample of Queries Prior to Purchasing

Generally speaking the cost for major works tend not to be included within maintenance charges, albeit that some managing agents in Blackley ask leasehold owners to contribute towards a sinking fund and this is used to offset against major repairs or maintenance. How long is the Lease? Are any of leasehold owners in dispute over their service charge payments?