My husband and I are hoping to acquire a 3 bedroom apartment in Cumbria with a mortgage. We wish to retain our Cumbria conveyancer, but the mortgage company advise she’s not on their "panel". It appears that we have little option but to select one of the lender panel conveyancing practices or keep our Cumbria property lawyer as well as pay for one of their panel lawyers to represent them. This feels very unfair; is there anything we can do?
No, not really. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the lender’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose 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 Cumbria conveyancing solicitor to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
What does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in Cumbria? What am I being asked for?
You are right in these requests have nothing to do with conveyancing in Cumbria. However these days you will not be able to complete any conveyancing deal without first providing proof of your identity. This usually takes the form of a either your passport or driving licence as well as a council tax bill. Please note that if you are supplying your driving licence as proof of ID it must be both the paper part and photo card part, one is not sufficient without the other.
Evidence of your source of money is required under Money Laundering Regulations. You should not be offended when you are asked to produce this as your conveyancer will need to have this information on record. Your Cumbria conveyancing practitioner will require evidence of proof of funds prior to accepting any funds from you into their client account and they should also ask additional queries regarding the source of funds.
I have 71 years left on my lease and need a lease extension for my apartment in Cumbria. Conveyancing solicitors on the Tesco Bank panel can deal with such extensions correct?
Most leasehold conveyancing experts should be able to deal with a lease extension. if you are securing a mortgage then your lender may insist that the lease be extended before competition. Tesco Bank have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook in relation to minimum unexpired lease terms. As of 9/8/2025 the requirements read as follows :
I have todaydiscovered that Wolstenholmes have been shut down. They carried out my conveyancing in Cumbria for a purchase of a leasehold flat 10 months ago. How can I establish that the property is not still registered in the name of the previous owner?
The easiest method to see if the premises is in your name, you can carry out a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Cumbria conveyancing specialists.
I only have 72 years remaining on my flat in Cumbria. I now wish to extend my lease but my landlord is can not be found. What should I do?
If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be extended by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to track down the landlord. For most situations an enquiry agent should be helpful to conduct investigations and prepare a report to be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Cumbria.
Leasehold Conveyancing in Cumbria - Examples of Questions you should ask Prior to buying
-
Is there a share of the freehold? The best form of lease arrangement is where the freehold reversion is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this arrangement the lessees enjoy control and although a managing agent is frequently employed where the building is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves. Be sure to find out if there are any onerous prohibitions in the lease. For instance it is fairly common in Cumbria leases that pets are not permitted in certain buildings in Cumbria. If you love the flatin Cumbria but your dog is not allowed to make the move with you then you will be faced hard choice.
Myself and my husband have recently had an offer accepted on a property and had meeting on Wednesday with the Post Office for the mortgage. They advised us that when it comes to selecting a lawyer that if they are not on their approved panel of lawyers then we will have to pay out an additional charge of about two hundred pounds. This is because they will then have to appoint a solicitor to act on their behalf in addition to the one we choose to act for ourselves and we will be on the hook for their costs. I have requested the Post Office to supply me with a list so I can seek quotes only from their approved solicitors but was told they dont have such a list to hand over. Is there a simple way of finding out who is on a lender panel?
You can enquire of the Post Office what their panel criteria is for a solicitor.Then ask the property lawyer of your choice whether they fit that criteria and have they acted on loans for the Post Office before. Where the answer to those is yes, then just double check with the Post Office. Another option is to make use of our search facility and we should be able to locate a conveyancing practitioner in Cumbria on the panel for the Post Office.