My partner and I are looking to purchase a house in Wirral and are in fact using a Wirral conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. National Westminster Bank have this evening contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Wirral solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?

When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for 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 Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Wirral solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.

I appreciate that there are debates on Chancel Insurance on online forums. Do I require this when buying a property in Wirral? or I am told that there is a law dating back centuries that could mean that homeowners living in a parish church boundary will be compelled to pay for maintenance towards the chancel in proximity to the church. Is this a legitimate concern for conveyancing in Wirral?

Unless a prior acquisition of the house completed post 12 October 2013 you could take it that lawyers handling conveyancing in Wirral to remain encouraging a chancel search and or chancel repair liability insurance.

I have been on the look out for a leasehold apartment up to £195,000 and identified one round the corner in Wirral I like with amenity areas and transport links in the vicinity, the downside is that it's only got 52 years on the lease. There is not much else in Wirral suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a short lease?

If you require a home loan the shortness of the lease may be problematic. Reduce the offer by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you can ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor about this matter.

Am I best advised to go with a Wirral conveyancing solicitor based in the vicinity that I am buying? We have a good friend who can deal with the legal formalities but her office is over three hundred kilometers drive away.

The benefit of a local Wirral conveyancing firm is that you can visit the firm to sign paperwork, hand in your ID and apply pressure on them where appropriate. Having local Wirral know how is a bonus. However it's more important to get someone that will do a good and efficient job. If other friends have instructed your friend and the majority were happy that must outweigh using an unfamiliar Wirral conveyancing lawyer just because they are local.

My 20yr old son is just in the process of moving home, the home loan was agreed last week in principle. After the offer was accepted on apartment we contacted the lender to move forward with his. We were disappointed to hear that mortgage companies do not accept all solicitor, they have to be on a list, is this correct?

Lenders tend to imposes restrictions either the type or the number of conveyancing solicitors on their approved list of lawyers. Typical examples of such restriction(s) being that a firm must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some have decided to limit the number of firms they use to represent them. You should note that lenders have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any Wirral conveyancing practitioner on their panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of conveyancing panels a few years ago and whilst there are differing views about the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms only carry out one or two conveyances a year. Those supporting conveyancing panel cuts ask why law firms should have the right to be on a Lender panel when clearly, conveyancing is not their speciality. To put it another way; would you want a conveyancing solicitor to represent you if you were charged with a crime? Unlikely.