I am in the process of selling my house in Thorpe Astley and the estate agent has just e-mailed to say that the buyers are changing their law firm. I am told that this is due to the fact that the bank will only deal with solicitors on their approved list. On what basis would a major mortgage company only engage with specific law firms rather the firm that they want to select for their conveyancing in Thorpe Astley ?

Lenders have always had an approved set of law firms that can act for them, but in the past few years big names such as Yorkshire Building Society, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for over 25 years.

Banks blame a rise in fraud by way of justification for the pruning – criteria have been stiffened as a smaller panel is easier to monitor. No lender will say 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. Plenty of firms 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 house in Thorpe Astley is up for sale and I have accepted an offer. Will my conveyancing practitioner need to be required to be on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel in order to deal with paying off my mortgage?

Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their specifications fairly frequently currently.

I understand that there are debates on Chancel Insurance on online forums. Do I require this when acquiring a house in Thorpe Astley? or I am told that there is an ancient law that means some homeowners residing in a parish church boundary may be liable to pay for repairs to the chancel within the church. Is this appropriate for conveyancing in Thorpe Astley?

Unless a previous acquisition of the house took place post 12 October 2013 you could expect solicitors carrying out conveyancing in Thorpe Astley to continue to propose a a chancel search and or chancel repair liability policy.

How do I locate a Thorpe Astley law firm on the Chelsea Building Society conveyancing panel? I am a keen cyclist and am prepared to travel upto 10kilometers to meet the lawyer.

Feel free to make use of the search on this page. Please pick a lender and your location and you will see a number of Thorpe Astley conveyancing lawyers located nearest you. We have listed some Thorpe Astley conveyancing firms towards the end of this page and you can telephone them to check whether they are on the Chelsea Building Society panel

We are 14 days into a freehold purchase having been recommend to a firm by the local agent to execute conveyancing in Thorpe Astley. We are not happy. Can you you assist me in finding new solicitors?

They would have to be really poor in order to consider diss instructing them. Has the mortgage been generated? If so you must advise them of the new contact details and ensure the offer are issued to the new lawyers. The conveyancer needs to be on the banks panel to avoid supplemental costs and delays. That should be your first question of the new solicitors. The find a solicitor tool can help you find a lender approved conveyancer for your conveyancing in Thorpe Astley