What does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in Belmont? Why is this being asked of me?
Anti-terror and anti-money-laundering rules require solicitors and licensed conveyancers to verify the identification documents of the person or body they are dealing with before they can accept their conveyancing instruction. The Terms and Conditions that you are required to sign will no doubt stipulate this. Your lawyer also has obligations to obtain certain documents in accordance with the CML Lenders Handbook requirements last updated on 1st December 2014. Should you refuse to supply identification documents, your lawyer will not be able to take you on as a client.
The Belmont conveyancing solicitors that I recently instructed on my house acquisition in Belmont have without warning closed. I chose them because I needed a solicitor on the UBS conveyancing panel and my preferred Belmont lawyer was not. I paid them 275 plus VAT in advance. What do I do now?
If you have an estate agent involved then let them know immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the UBS conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers should be in a position to help.
Is it the case that all Belmont solicitors on the UBS conveyancing panel are governed by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?
As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the UBS conveyancing panel they would need to be regulated by the SRA. Some lenders do permit licenced conveyancers on their panel and in such a situation the organisation would be governed by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.
Completion of my remortgage has taken place for my property in Belmont. Conveyancing was satisfactory but I would like to complain about the lender. How does one go about formally complaining?
All banks and building societies have complaints procedures. Your first point of contact should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Care Department at head office. We understand that complaints to a lender are resolved very quickly. If you feel the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service, South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR with full details of your complaint.
My offer was accepted on a house in Belmont on 29/4/2026, valuation was booked five days after, all came back fine. Solicitor instructed, so all that was missing was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Clydesdale and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?
A lender would not issue a mortgage until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Clydesdale to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
The deeds to our house are lost. The conveyancers who conducted the conveyancing in Belmont 5 years ago no longer exist. Will I be able to sell the house?
Assuming you have a registered title the details of your proprietorship will be recorded by HMLR under a Title Number. It is easy to conduct a search at the Land Registry, find your property and secure current copies of the Registered Entries for less than a fiver. Where the property is Leasehold then the Land Registry will also normally hold a file duplicate of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be retrieved for £20 inclusive of VAT.
I need to instruct a conveyancing practitioner in Belmont for my house move. Is there any facility to check a solicitor's complaints history with the profession’s regulator?
Anyone can see documented Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) decisions resulting from investigations started on or after Jan 2008. Visit Check a solicitor's record. For information Pre 2008, or to check a solicitors history, ring 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 any week day save for Tuesday when lines open at 9.30am. For callers outside the UK, call +44 (0)121 329 6800. The regulator could recorded telephone calls for training requirements.
I am employed by a reputable estate agency in Belmont where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Belmont conveyancing firms. Please can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the buyer?
Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.
Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.
Following months of negotiations we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Belmont. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?
Most certainly. We are happy to put you in touch with a Belmont conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a Belmont premises is 33 The Maisonettes Alberta Avenue in June 2014. the Tribunal decided that the premium payable for the grant of a new lease be the sum of £20,680 (Twenty Thousand six hundred and eighty pounds). This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 60.43 years.