is it true that all Portland solicitor firms on the Barclays conveyancing panel are overseen by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?

As solicitors, in order to be on the Barclays conveyancing panel they would need to be overseen by the SRA. The majority of lenders do allow licenced conveyancers on their panel and in such a situation the organisation would be overseen by the CLC.

I recently had an offer accepted on a house in Portland. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their conveyancer. I paid an advanced payment of £225. Soon after, the conveyancing practitioner called me embarrassingly acknowledging 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 have instructed a Portland lawyer having made sure that they are on the Principality conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?

Principality will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Principality 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 Portland 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.

My wife and I are selling our home in Portland and the buyers lawyers are claiming that there is a possibility that the property was built land that was not decontaminated. Any high street Portland lawyer would know this is not the case. It does beg the question why the purchasers used a factory type conveyancing firm as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Portland. Having lived in Portland for 4 years we know that this is a non issue. Should we get in touch with our local Authority to get confirmation that there is no issue.

It would appear that you have a conveyancing solicitor already. What do they say? You should enquire of your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out health insurance to cover that same illness)

I am buying a new build flat in Portland. Conveyancing is a frightening process 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 is a sample of a few leasehold new build questions that you can expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Portland

The Landlord must covenant to assume the management if the Management Company goes into liquidation or otherwise defaults in running the management scheme. Will the freehold then be transferred for a nominal consideration (not exceeding £100) to the Management Company? Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. Has the Lease plan been approved by the Land Registry and if not when will they be lodged for this purpose? Forfeiture - bankruptcy or liquidation must not apply under this provision.

How simple is it to swap solicitor as I need to find a firm on the Birmingham Midshires conveyancing panel. I hired a family conveyancing solicitor in Portland round the corner but he is not approved by Birmingham Midshires

We will our best to assist in finding you a conveyancing solicitor in Portland on the Birmingham Midshires panel. Please note that the solicitors that we work with do not pay us a referral fee if you instruct them and are fully regulated by the SRA who oversee all conveyancing solicitors in Portland. In making use of search facility on this website, you can compare and instruct different solicitors and conveyancers both nationally and in Portland.

In scouring the internet for the phrase conveyancing in Portland it brings up many solicitorslocally. With so much choice what is the best way to find the suitable solicitor for my move?

The ideal way of choosing a suitable conveyancer is through a personal testimonial, so seek the counsel of friends and relatives who have bought a property in Portland or a respected estate agent or financial adviser. Charges for conveyancing in Portland differ, so it's sensible to obtain a minimum of three estimates from varying types of property lawyers. Make sure that you clarify that the fees are fixed.