My fiance and I are refinancing our apartment in Clapton with Leeds Building Society. We have a son 19 who lives with us. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who reside at the property. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the apartment is forfeited by the lender. I have two questions (1) Is this document specific to the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we bought 4 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right to inherit the property?
On the face of it your lawyer has done nothing wrong as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to Leeds Building Society. This is solely used to protect Leeds Building Society if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave. It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of Leeds Building Society had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.
My fiance and I are purchasing a 2 bedroom flat in Clapton with a loan from Nottingham Building Society.We have a Clapton conveyancing solicitor but Nottingham Building Society advised that he's not on their "panel". we are left little option but to use a Nottingham Building Society panel solicitor or keep our preferred solicitor and pay for one of their panel ones to act for them. We feel as though this is unjust; Can we not simply insist that Nottingham Building Society use our lawyer?
No, not really. The loan offered to you contains various provisions, a common one being that lawyers must be on the Nottingham Building Society conveyancing panel. Until recently, most mortgage companies had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could find one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your solicitors to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Nottingham Building Society
I just bought a house at auction in Clapton. Conveyancing is needed. What happens now?
Having exchanged you now have to instruct a conveyancing lawyer quickly as you now have a tight a drop dead date to complete the property. All auction property will have a corresponding legal pack. This will likely include the copy title deeds, local authority and drainage searches. If you have purchased leasehold premises the conveyancing pack should contain a copy of the lease, management information and a sellers leasehold information form and other conveyancing paperwork specific to leasehold premises. You must pass this on to the solicitor working for you as soon as possible. Do make sure that that you have the requisite funding organised to complete the transaction on the set completion date.
When it comes to lenders such as RBS, do Clapton lawyers incur a fee to be on the list of approved solicitors?
We are unaware of any bank fees to register on their panel, although some do charge an administration fee to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel application.
I had an offer accepted on a house in Clapton on 18/2/2026, valuation was booked 4 days after, received a clean bill of health. Conveyancer appointed, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Principality and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Principality conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?
A lender would not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Principality to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Principality conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
I know that there are debates on Chancel Insurance on online forums. Do I need this when buying a house in Clapton? or I am told that there is a law dating back centuries that could mean that homeowners residing in a parish church boundary may be liable to pay for repairs towards the chancel in proximity to the church. Is this appropriate for conveyancing in Clapton?
Unless a previous purchase of the premises took place after 12 October 2013 you may assume that solicitors delivering conveyancing in Clapton to remain encouraging a chancel search and or chancel repair liability insurance.
I used Action Conveyancing a few years past for my conveyancing in Clapton. I now require my file however the law firm is no longer operating. What do I do?
You should call the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to assist in tracing 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 Clapton 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.
My partner is buying a basement flat in Clapton. He was given a quote by the conveyancing practitioner connected to the estate agents and it came to £1250 . It was eight years ago since I sold and purchased a home and the bill was £440. Have fees really gone up that much?
What does the conveyancing estimate include? Is it just for the legal fees, or what you will be paying in total (for example Clapton searches, land registry fees, etc)