I am selling my flat in St Annes and the estate agent has just telephoned to advise that the purchasers are swapping conveyancer. The excuse is that the mortgage company will only work with solicitors on their conveyancing panel. On what basis would a leading lender only work with specific solicitors rather the firm that they want to appoint to handle their conveyancing in St Annes ?

Lenders have always had panels of law firms that can represent them, but in the past few years big names such as Lloyds Banking Group, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for decades.

Banks blame a rise in fraud by way of justification for the reduction – criteria have been narrowed as a smaller panel is easier to maintain. Banks tend not to reveal how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is hearing daily from firms that have been removed from panels. Some do not even realise 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.

Is there a reason why leasehold purchase conveyancing in St Annes is more expensive?

St Annes leasehold conveyancing transactions usually involve additional investigations than freeholds including investigating the Lease, liaising with the Landlord such as serving relevant notices on the Landlord or managing agent, obtaining up-to-date service charge and management information, obtaining Landlord’s consents and reviewing management accounts and formation documents.

I have recentlybecome aware that Stirling Law have been shut down. They carried out my conveyancing in St Annes for a purchase of a leasehold apartment 9 months ago. How can I check that my home is registered correctly in the name of the previous owner?

The easiest method to see if the property is in your name, you can carry out a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of St Annes conveyancing specialists.

Am I right to be concerned about estate agents that I am dealing with are suggesting an online conveyancing firm rather than a local St Annes conveyancing firm?

As with lots of professional services, often referrals from connections can be extremely useful or valuable. Yet there are many people with a vested interest in a conveyancing deal; estate agents, mortgage brokers and mortgage companies might all recommend conveyancers to instruct. Sometimes these lawyers might be known to one of the organisations as being good in their field, but occasionally there might be a financial incentive behind the recommendation. You have the discretion to appoint your preferred lawyer. Don't forget that many banks have an approved list of lawyers you must use for the mortgage aspect of your home move.

Having used your search tool I can't find the lawyer I was hoping to instruct as being on the lender conveyancing panel. My lawyer has said that they are on the bank approved panel. How can I be sure given that they are not listed on your directory?

Not all firms are yet listed on our lender panel search tool which is still relatively new. Law firms are listing on a daily basis and it is probably the case that your lawyer is on the mortgage company conveyancing lawyer and you should probably take them at their word. Please do feel free to suggest that they completing their listing on our site as it would only cost them £1 a month to list themselves as being on the lender solicitor panel.