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When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is usual for the purchaser's solicitors 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitors should contact NRAM Ltd and see if they can apply for membership of the NRAM Ltd conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable NRAM Ltd will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the NRAM Ltd conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

All property lawyers on the NRAM Ltd conveyancing panel would need to check that the following risks are covered fire; lightning; aircraft; explosion; earthquake; storm; flood; escape of water or oil; riot; malicious damage; theft or attempted theft; falling trees and branches and aerials; subsidence; heave;landslip;collision;accidental damage to underground services;professional fees, demolition and site clearance costs; and public liability to anyone else. There are some other issues such as the level of excess that are set out in NRAM Ltd’s Part 2 requirements of the CML Handbook (last updated on NRAM Ltd). Being on the NRAM Ltd conveyancing panel your lawyer is expect to follow these instructions.

It is not clear why you need a NRAM Ltd panel solicitor but in any event, if you can not find one on our search tool you will need to speak directly to NRAM Ltd to find out which solicitors in NRAM Ltd are on their panel. If you do find such a firm not listed please direct them to our site to list. At a fee of one pound per month it is not expensive to register on the site

The fact that your lawyer is on the NRAM Ltd conveyancing panel is a help. It would almost certainly delay matters if they were not. However, no conveyancer should guarantee a time-frame for your conveyancing due to third parties outside of our control such as delays caused by lenders,conveyancing search providers or by the other side’s solicitors. The time taken is often determined by the number of parties in a chain

There is no definitive answer here. Have NRAM Ltd done the survey? Have you advised NRAM Ltd as your lawyers details and checked that your lawyer is on the NRAM Ltd conveyancing panel? sometimes it can take as long as six weeks for a mortgage offer to be issued

As long as the conveyancer is on the NRAM Ltd panel she or he must comply with the CML Handbook requirements for NRAM Ltd. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that NRAM Ltd will go ahead your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask NRAM Ltd to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the remaining number of years left on the lease.

NRAM Ltd will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually NRAM Ltd 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 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. or Your lawyer will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with NRAM Ltd you could contact your them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors.