I am progressing with the sale of my flat in Leigh On Sea and the estate agent has just text me to advise that the purchasers are swapping solicitor. The excuse is that the mortgage company will only work with property lawyers on their approved list. On what basis would a major lender only engage with certain law firms rather the firm that they want to choose for their conveyancing in Leigh On Sea ?

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 worked with them for decades.

Lenders blame a rise in fraud by way of justification for the pruning – criteria have been stiffened as a smaller panel is easier to maintain. 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. Your purchasers are not going to have any impact on this.

My fiance and I are refinancing our apartment in Leigh On Sea with . We have a son approaching twenty who lives at home. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose any adults other than ourselves who reside at the property. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the apartment is repossessed. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this document specific to the conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we remortgaged 4 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right to inherit the property?

First, rest assured that your conveyancing panel solicitor is doing the right thing as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to . This is solely used to protect if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave. It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.

In reviewing mumsnet.com for a high-quality lawyer in Leigh On Sea, most say that I must use a CQS accredited solicitor. Can you explain what CQS is?

The Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) provides a recognised quality standard for residential conveyancing practices issued by the Law Society. Membership achievement establishes a level of credibility for member firms with stakeholders (regulators, lenders, insurers and consumers) based upon: * the integrity of the senior responsible officer and other key conveyancing staff * the firm's adherence to good practice management standards * compliance with prudent and efficient conveyancing processes via the scheme protocol Membership includes many companies who carry out conveyancing in Leigh On Sea.

Are all Leigh On Sea Conveyancing Quality Solicitors on the conveyancing list of approved firms?

A selection of lenders now utilise the accreditation scheme as the starting point for Panel approval such as HSBC and Santander. CQS accreditation however is no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. That being said,the CML have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for solicitor practices wishing to remain on their approved list of firms.

We previously chose conveyancers with offices in Leigh On Sea on the solicitor panel. They are now charging me a supplemental sum for the legal aspects of the mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee set by ?

Provided it is contained in their Terms of Engagement or estimate then yes your is entitled to charge a fee for this. The charge is not set by but by your Leigh On Sea . Plenty of firms on the panel will quote an ‘acting for lender’ fee but plenty of practices incorporate it on their overall fee.

I have a mortgage with for my property in Leigh On Sea. Conveyancing was finalised a year ago. If I am intending to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform ?

You must advise before letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of ’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a conveyancing panel firm.

Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to my property are lost. The lawyers who handled the conveyancing in Leigh On Sea years ago have long since closed. Will I be able to sell the house?

Gone are the days when you need to have the physical original deeds to establish that you are the registered proprietor of land or property, given that the Land Registry have everything they need in a digital format.