My partner and I are looking to buy a property in Whitehaven and have appointed a Whitehaven conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Whitehaven solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?

When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Whitehaven solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.

Do all mortgage companies provide you with an approved list of Whitehaven conveyancing solicitors? How do you know who is on the conveyancing panel?

Whitehaven conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from directly.

A relative advised me that in purchasing a property in Whitehaven there could be a number of restrictions preventing external changes to the property. Is this right?

There are anumerous of properties in Whitehaven which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to external changes. Part of the conveyancing in Whitehaven should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.

My lawyer has informed me that absentee landlord insurance is required on my purchase. What is the typical level of cover needed for conveyancing in Whitehaven?

The right level of absentee landlord indemnity insurance depends on your lender. It would differ for example between and . Conveyancing solicitors as opposed to borrowers take out such policies.

Having digested plenty of house buying guides, I note that it is considered advisable to get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Whitehaven solicitor - who is on the conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. is that correct?

will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own Whitehaven surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.

The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build flat in Whitehaven. Conveyancing is daunting at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build legal work.

Set out below is a sample of a selection of leasehold new build questions that you can expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Whitehaven

Please supply a car parking plan. The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided. Investor purchasers must be able to freely grant unsecured tenancies at market rents without requiring any consents. Please confirm the Lease plans are architect prepared. Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease.

I am thinking of appointing a conveyancing lawyer in Whitehaven for my home move. Is it possible to see a firm’s record with the legal regulator?

One may see documented Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) determinations arising from investigations from 2008 onwards. Go to Check a solicitor's record. To find information Pre 2008, or to check a firm's record, telephone 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and 09.30 - 18.00 Tuesday. For callers outside the UK, call +44 (0)121 329 6800. The regulator sometimes monitor call for training reasons.