Is the fact that my solicitor in Seaforth is not on my mortgage company's conveyancing panel that there is a problem with the quality of her work?

That would most likely be an incorrect assumption to make. There are all sorts of perfectly reasonable explanations. Just recently a report by the solicitors regulator revealed 76% of law firms surveyed had been removed from at least one lender panel. The most common reasons for removal are: (1) lack of transactions (2) the lawyer is a sole practitioner (3) as part of the HSBC panel reduction (4) regulatory contact by SRA (5) accidental removal. Should you be concerned you should simply call the Seaforth conveyancing firm and enquire why they are no longer on the approved list for your mortgage company.

I have been told that property searches are the main reason for obstruction in Seaforth conveyancing transactions. Is there any truth in this?

The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) has noted the conclusions of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature within the common causes of delays in the conveyancing process. Local searches are not likely to feature in any slowing down conveyancing in Seaforth.

How do I use your search tool to locate a conveyancing lawyer in Seaforth on the panel for my lender?

Step one is to select a mortgage company such as Yorkshire Building Society, Coventry Building Society or Nottingham Building Society then choose your preferred area for instance Seaforth. Conveyancing organisations in Seaforth and beyond should be shown.

Should I go with a Seaforth conveyancing practitioner who is local to the property I am purchasing? I have an old university friend who can perform the legal formalities however her office is 200kilometers drive away.

The benefit of a local Seaforth conveyancing practice is that you can pop in to execute documents, deliver your identification documents and apply pressure on them if necessary. Having local Seaforth know how is a benefit. However it's more important to get someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If if people you trust used your friend and they were impressed that should outweigh using an unknown Seaforth conveyancing lawyer just because they are local.

We are buying a 2 bedroom flatin Seaforth with a residential mortgage from a mortgage company. We have selected a conveyancer in Seaforth however our mortgage company says she’s not on their "panel". Apparently we need to choose from the our mortgage company panel solicitors or keep our Seaforth conveyancer and incur the extra legals for one of their panel ones to represent them. This seems very unfair; Can we not simply insist that our lender use our Seaforth lawyer?

Unfortunately,no. The lender mortgage offered to you is subject to conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the lender's conveyancing panel. in the past, most lenders had open panels, including most conveyancing solicitors in Seaforth : a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your solicitors to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for your mortgage company.