I am in the process of selling my house in Westbury Park and the EA has just text me to advise that the purchasers are changing their property lawyer. The excuse is that the lender will only engage with property lawyers on their approved list. On what basis would a big named lender only deal with certain law firms rather the firm that they want to choose for their conveyancing in Westbury Park ?
Lenders have always had panels of law firms they are content to work with, but in the last few years big names such as Santander, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for more than 15 years.
Lending institutions point to the increase in fraud as the reason for the reduction – criteria have been stiffened as a smaller panel is easier to monitor. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is hearing daily from firms that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms are unaware that they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. The buyers are unlikely to have any impact on this.
Some advice if I may. My Westbury Park lawyer is assuring me that he has toorder Westbury Park conveyancing searches becausethe firm are on the HSBCapproved lawyer panel. Do I not have any say here?
You have limited options available to you. As you are obtaining a home loan with a mortgage company your conveyancer has to comply with their conditions as set out in their version of the CML Conveyancing Handbook. Your conveyancing practitioner would have previously signed the Terms and Conditions of your lender’s conveyancing panel appointment which obliges them to comply with the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook requirements . Even if you were a cash buyer you would be ill advised not to carry out Westbury Park conveyancing searches.
Can you explain why leasehold purchase conveyancing in Westbury Park costs more?
The conveyancing costs on a leasehold premises in Westbury Park is inevitably greater when contrasted to a freehold transaction. This is because there is an amount of additional investigations necessary in communicating with the freeholder and managing agents to collate the evidence concerning whether the rent and maintenance charges have been paid and whether there are any major works due in the foreseeable future on repairs or maintenance of the block.
We wanted to use a property lawyer in Westbury Park for our house move. Our financial adviser has since notified us that our mortgage lenders Nationwide Building Society won't deal with them. Surely this is unduly restrictive?
Pre- 2008 most lenders had a different appetite for risk. Almost all Westbury Park conveyancing firms would have been on most mortgage company panels. The financial services regulator in 2010 conducted a thematic investigation into mortgage fraud which concluded: mortgage lenders should know the conveyancing solicitors dealt with. Consequently, mortgage companies are increasingly seeing more data from law firms about their operations and the individuals who work for them and set certain criteria such a completing on a minimum amount of transactions. Many Westbury Park conveyancing firms that have been excluded from lender panels have Unblemished track record, no complaints and no claims and didn't just 'dabble' in conveyancing. Westbury Park is amongst the numerous locations where the solicitors showing on our search results are are approved Nationwide Building Society.
I recently had an offer accepted on an apartment in Westbury Park. My mortgage broker recommended their conveyancers. I paid an advanced payment of £200. A few days later, the solicitor called me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Yorkshire BS 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 Yorkshire BS 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.
My offer was accepted on a house in Westbury Park on 23/3/2026, valuation was booked 3 days later, received a clean bill of health. Solicitor appointed, 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.
My offer on a detached house in Westbury Park has been accepted, the owners do however have a tied purchase. The owners have offered on a property, however it’s not been accepted yet, and are looking at other flats booked. I have selected a high street conveyancing solicitor in Westbury Park. What should be my next step? At what stage do I apply for the mortgage with Skipton?
It is understandable to have apprehensions where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to incur costs too early (mortgage application is in the region of £1k, then valuation, Westbury Park conveyancing search costs, etc). The first course of action is to check that your conveyancing practitioner is on the Skipton conveyancing panel. As to the subsequent stages this very much dictated by the uniqueness of your case, motivation for the property and on the state of the market. During a hot market many buyers will apply for a home loan with Skipton and pay for the valuation and only if it was satisfactory would they pay their solicitor to press on with the conveyancing in Westbury Park.
I need to appoint a conveyancing solicitor for remortgage conveyancing in Westbury Park. I have land on a site which looks to be the perfect solution If there is a chance to get all formalities done via email that would be preferable. Do I need to be concerned? What should out be looking out for?
As usual with these online conveyancers you need to read ALL the small print - did you notice the extra charge for dealing with the mortgage?