My wife and I are looking to purchase a property in Stafford and have appointed a Stafford conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Godiva Mortgages Ltd have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Stafford conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for the mortgage company. 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your lender 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 Stafford lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
My aunt passed away six months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the property in Stafford. The house had a relatively small loan left on it of around £4500. I want to transfer the title deeds into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Yorkshire BS, pay off the mortgage. Is this possible?
Where you plan to refinance then Yorkshire BS will insist on your using a conveyancer on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the Yorkshire BS mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
I have paid off my mortgage with Co-operative. I assume I don't need a Stafford conveyancer on the Co-operative panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your Co-operative mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Co-operative mortgage from the register. Co-operative, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where Co-operative has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Co-operative has instructed the Land Registry to do so
I am due to exchange contracts on my house. I had a double glazing fitted in December 2006, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My buyer's lender, Kent Reliance are being a right pain. The Stafford solicitor who is on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel is saying indemnity insurance will be fine but Kent Reliance are insisting on a building regulation certificate. Why do Kent Reliance have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?
It is probably the case that Kent Reliance have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why Kent Reliance may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing was correctly and safely installed. The indemnity insurance merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.
I had an offer accepted on a property in Stafford on 8/7/2026, valuation was booked 4 days later, received a clean bill of health. Property lawyer retained, so all that was missing 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. Are Principality entitled to hold back the Mortgage pending the lawyer being on the approved list?
Mortgage companies tend not to 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.
What will a local search tell me about the house I am purchasing in Stafford?
Stafford conveyancing often commences with the ordering local authority searches directly from your local Authority or via a personal search organisations such as Searchflow The local search plays a central role in most Stafford conveyancing purchase; as long as you don’t want any unpleasant once you have moved into your property. The search will provide data on, amongst other things, details on planning applications relevant to the premises (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of thirteen subject headings.
Just had an offer accepted on a new build apartment in Stafford. Conveyancing is necessary evil at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build conveyancing.
Set out below are examples of a few leasehold new build questions that you can expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Stafford
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Please supply evidence that the form of Lease proposed has been approved by the Land Registry. Investor purchasers must be able to freely grant unsecured tenancies at market rents without requiring any consents. 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. Please supply a car parking plan. Has the Lease plan been approved by the Land Registry and if not when will they be lodged for this purpose?
I need to instruct a conveyancing practitioner in Stafford for my house move. Is there any facility to check a solicitor's record with the legal regulator?
You can review presented Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) decisions resulting from investigations from 2008 onwards. Visit Check a solicitor's record. To find records Pre 2008, or to check a firm's history, ring 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and 09.30 - 18.00 Tuesday. International callers, dial +44 (0)121 329 6800. The SRA could monitor call for training purposes.