As I am unsure how the conveyancing process works what is the most important advice you can give me about purchase conveyancing in Cambridge?
Not many law firms shout this from the rooftops but conveyancing in Cambridge and elsewhere in England and Wales is often a confrontational process. In other words, when it comes to conveyancing there is lots of room for conflict between you and others involved in the transaction. E.g., the vendor, estate agent and even potentially the lender. Choosing a solicitor for your conveyancing in Cambridge is a critical decision as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the ONE party in the process whose responsibility is to protect your best interests and to keep you safe.
There is a worrying increase of a "blame" culture- someone must be at fault for the process being so protracted. You your first instinct should be to trust your lawyer above the other players in the home moving process.
The formalities of my purchase has taken place for my property in Cambridge. Conveyancing was a necessary evil but I would like to complain about the lender. Who do I contact should I wish to lodge a complaint?
All lenders have complaints procedures. Your first port of call should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Care Department at head office. Ordinarily complaints to a lender are sorted out effectively and efficiently. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service with full details of your complaint.
My offer was accepted on a property in Cambridge on 17/3/2025, valuation was booked 3 days after, received a clean bill of health. Conveyancer instructed, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to UBS and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the UBS conveyancing panel. Are UBS entitled to hold back the Mortgage pending the lawyer being on the approved list?
Mortgage companies tend not to not issue a mortgage until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for UBS to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the UBS conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
At last I have had an offer on a maisonette in Cambridge accepted, the vendors do however have an associated purchase. The vendors have put an offer on a flat, however it’s not yet agreed to, and are looking at other flats in the pipeline. I have selected a bricks and mortar conveyancing solicitor in Cambridge. What do I do now? At what point do I apply for the mortgage with Skipton?
It is understandable to have concerns where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to be too out of pocket too early (mortgage application is approx one thousand pounds, then valuation, Cambridge conveyancing search fees, etc). The first course of action is to ensure that your conveyancer is on the Skipton conveyancing panel. As to the next steps this very much dictated by the specifics of your case, motivation for this property and on the state of the market. During a buoyant market many buyers would apply for a home loan with Skipton and arrange for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they ask their conveyancing practitioner to proceed with searches.
Various online forums that I have visited warn that are the number one cause of delay in Cambridge house deals. Is this right?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) has noted the findings of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature within the top 10 causes of hindrances in the conveyancing process. Local searches are not likely to be the root cause of delay in conveyancing in Cambridge.
I used Arc property Solicitors several years past for my conveyancing in Cambridge. I now require my papers however the law firm has closed. What do I do?
Do contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to assist in tracking down your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Cambridge of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously instructed, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
I have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £245,000 and found one round the corner in Cambridge I like with open areas and transport links nearby, the downside is that it only has 52 years on the lease. There is not much else in Cambridge in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a short lease?
If you require a home loan the shortness of the lease may be a potential deal breaker. Discount the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you may request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor regarding this.
How do I identify a Cambridge solicitor on the Platform Home Loans Ltd conveyancing panel? I have a car and am prepared to travel upto 10kilometers to meet the conveyancer.
Feel free to make use of the tool on this page. Please select a lender and your location and you will see a number of Cambridge conveyancing lawyers locally. We have detailed some Cambridge conveyancing firms at the bottom of this page and you can telephone them to see whether they are on the Platform Home Loans Ltd member panel