Unfortunately I am unable to travel far from Old Town. Is there a reason why all Old Town conveyancers are not on all mortgage company panels?

Lenders normally impose restrictions on either the type or the number of conveyancing practices on their approved list of lawyers. A common example of such criteria being that the firm must have at least two partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some banks decided to limit the number of conveyancers they use to represent them. It is worth noting that building societies have no responsibility for the accuracy of advice given by any Old Town property lawyer on their panel. Property fraud was the key driver in the culling of conveyancing panels from 2008 even though there are differing points of view about the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics via HMLR indicates that thousands of law organisations only conduct a couple of conveyances annually. Those supporting conveyancing panel pruning question why conveyancing firms should have claim to remain on a lender panel when it is apparent that conveyancing is not their speciality?

Is there a search tool that I can use to investigate if the solicitor handling my conveyancing in Old Town is on the bank’sapproved panel? I am looking to avoid the situation of having one lawyer for me and one for Accord Mortgages Ltd thus paying £175.00 in supplemental conveyancing invoice.

Feel free to take advantage of the find a conveyancing panel solicitor tool on this site. Pick the lender and type ‘Old Town’ or your preferred area and you will see a number of lawyer based in Old Town or near you.

We are planning to move house in December. Should my conveyancing solicitor liaise with the removal company on the completion day. As an aside, can you suggest a removal company in Old Town. Conveyancing lawyer was chosen before I stumbled across your site.

On the day of completion you will need to pick up the keys from your property agent but this can only happen when the vendors lawyers advise the agent that the monies to complete are in and the keys can be passed over. Subsequently you should inform the removal company that they can start moving you in. As a matter of policy we do not suggest a particular removal organisation but can assist you in finding a residential property solicitor in Old Town or a legal practice with expertise in conveyancing in Old Town.

When it comes to lenders such as Yorkshire BS, do Old Town solicitors face a fee to be on the list of approved solicitors?

We are not aware of any mortgage company fees to be on their list of approved firms, although some do charge an administration charge to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel submission.

I am currently in the process of buying my council flat in Old Town. I have a mortgage agreed with HSBC. Conveyancing is new to me. Can I proceed without a solicitor easily? I think we can but we keep being told I should have one. Any advice?

It is not advisable to proceed with a house purchase without a solicitor. The council's solicitor are not acting for you. You need a solicitor for a number reasons. One of which is to verify what plans the Council have for repairs and refurbishment for the next five years. Many leaseholders have been stung for contributions of thousands of pounds. In any event, if you are getting a mortgage with HSBC, you will need to appoint a solicitor on the HSBC conveyancing panel.

The deeds to my house are lost. The solicitors who dealt with the conveyancing in Old Town 4 years ago no longer exist. What do I do?

You no longer need to have the physical official documentation to prove you are the owner of your registered land or premises, as the Land Registry hold details of all registered land or property electronically.

I have just started marketing my 2 bed flat in Old Town.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have recently had a yearly service charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should discharge the invoice as you normally would given that all ground rent and service payments will be allottedon completion, so you should recover the relevant percentage by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process