My wife and I are hoping to buy a house in St Albans and have appointed a St Albans conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Bank of Scotland have this morning contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our St Albans conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
If you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your mortgage company and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred St Albans lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
I have given 2 months notice to my existing landlord and have to be out of my let out flat in St Albans by 6/1/2026. Conveyancing for my house purchase is progressing. Is it possible to complete in three weeks as I wish to avoid having to find temporary accommodation?
The normal practice is not to serve notice on a rental unless exchange of contracts has taken place. If you have not previously done so, notify to your solicitor and request that they apply pressure on the other solicitors, try to get a realistic time scale from them that all parties will work towards
My brother-in-law has suggested I instruct a conveyancing solicitor in St Albans. I need to find out if they are accepted on the Chelsea Building Society conveyancing panel. Can you help?
You should phone your lawyer and ask them if they can act for the bank. Alternatively you can get in touch with Chelsea Building Society who may be able to confirm.
I used Stirling Law a few years past for my conveyancing in St Albans. Now, I need my files but cannot find the solicitor. What do I do?
Do contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate 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 St Albans of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously hired, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
I am buying a new build flat in St Albans. Conveyancing is necessary evil at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build conveyancing.
Set out below are examples of a few leasehold new build enquiries that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in St Albans
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The Vendor must covenant to keep unoccupied units in good repair until long leases are granted therefore. The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided. Where service of notices and proceedings can be at the property demised please confirm that this can be amended to include simultaneous services at the Lessees’ solicitors’ offices where the Lessee from time to time is not resident in the UK - such solicitors may be varied by notice in writing to the Landlord from time to time but otherwise will be as previously specified. Has the Lease plan been approved by the Land Registry and if not when will they be lodged for this purpose? Investor purchasers must be able to freely grant unsecured tenancies at market rents without requiring any consents.
Should I use a St Albans conveyancing solicitor in close proximity to the house I am purchasing? An old friend can execute the conveyancing but her office is approximately 350kilometers drive away.
The primary upside of using a local St Albans conveyancing firm is that you can attend the office to sign documents, hand in your ID and apply pressure on them if necessary. They will also have local insight which is a bonus. However nothing is more important than finding someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If you know people who instructed your friend and in the main were happy that must trump using an unfamiliar St Albans conveyancing lawyer just because they are St Albans based.