The Shenley Church End conveyancing solicitors that I appointed last week on my purchase in Shenley Church End have suddenly shut down. I chose them because I had to have a solicitor on the Nationwide conveyancing panel and my preferred Shenley Church End lawyer was not. I issued them a cheque for two hundred pounds in advance. What should be my next steps?
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 Nationwide 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.
After much negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Shenley Church End. My mortgage broker recommended their conveyancers. I paid an upfront payment of £175. A couple of days later, the lawyer contacted me to say that they were not on the Nationwide conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Nationwide panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
I had an offer accepted on an apartment in Shenley Church End on 12/6/2025, valuation was booked 4 days later, all came back fine. Property lawyer retained, so all that was missing was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Kent Reliance and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel. Are Kent Reliance entitled to hold back the Mortgage pending the lawyer being on the approved list?
A lender would not issue a mortgage until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Kent Reliance to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
I have instructed a Shenley Church End conveyancer having checked that they are on the UBS conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
UBS will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually UBS 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 Shenley Church End 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.
I am buying a new build house in Shenley Church End with the aid of help to buy. The sellers refused to budge the amount so I negotiated five thousand pounds worth of fixtures and fittings instead. The house builders rep advised me not to tell my solicitor about the deal as it would adversely affect my loan with Britannia. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.
All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the developer of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.
Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.
Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I put an offer in last month in what should have been a straight forward, no chain conveyancing. Shenley Church End is where the house is located. Can you shed any light on this issue?
Flying freeholds in Shenley Church End are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Shenley Church End you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds very carefully. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Shenley Church End may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.
I have been pointed in your direction by numerous estate agents in Shenley Church End to locate a solicitor using your seach tool. What’s the financial inducement for Estate Agents to offer your site ahead of alternative conveyancing organisations?
We don’t give any referral fee for pointing buyers and sellers our way. We thought it would be too underhand a fee because home movers will think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not getting any benefit too?’ We would prefer to grow our business on genuine recommendations.
In my capacity as executor for the will of my father I am selling a residence in Neath but live in Shenley Church End. My solicitor (approximately 250 miles from meneeds me to sign a stat dec prior to the transaction finalising. Could you suggest a conveyancing solicitor in Shenley Church End who can attest this legal document for me?
Technically speaking you are unlikely to be required to have the documents attested by a conveyancing solicitor. Normally or notary public or solicitor will suffice regardless of whether they are located in Shenley Church End