My fiance and I are planning to acquire a home in Polesworth and have instructed a Polesworth conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Chelsea Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Polesworth conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?

If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is usual 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 Quality Scheme. Your solicitor 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 lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Polesworth lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

When can the exchange of contracts happen for sale conveyancing in Polesworth and am I required to attend the lawyers office?

If you are in close proximity to our conveyancing solicitors in Polesworth you are invited in to sign documents. However, the law practices we work with provide countrywide coverage for conveyancing and give as equally diligent and professional a job for you when dealing with you electronically. The signing of the property agreement is not the critical part. Signing on the dotted line is just a prerequisite for the firm to exchange contracts at the appropriate time, which will usually be very shortly after signing. The procedure is nowadays normally dealt with by telephone and can be very rapid, although where a lengthy "chain" is in play, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Polesworth)to be in the office at the appropriate time.

My husband and I have organised a further advance on our home loan from UBS as we intend to conduct improvements to our property in Polesworth. Do we need to appoint a high street Polesworth solicitor on the UBS conveyancing panel to handle the legals?

UBS don't usually instruct a member of their approved list of lawyers to handle the formalities. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the UBS list.

I recently had an offer agreed on an apartment in Polesworth. My financial adviser pressured me to appoint their conveyancing practitioner. I paid an on account payment of £200. Soon after, the lawyer called me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the HSBC 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 HSBC 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 a house in Polesworth on 10/12/2025, valuation was booked five days later, received a clean bill of health. Solicitor instructed, so all that was missing was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Clydesdale and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel. Are Clydesdale 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 Clydesdale to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.

What makes your site different to alternative online quote calculators when it comes to conveyancing in Polesworth?

At this site get an accurate costs illustration from a Solicitor or Licensed Conveyancer that understands the issues of your conveyancing in Polesworth. Unlike many estate agents and many comparison sites we do not operate referral arrangements with solicitors. Many agents and online brokers 'recommend' solicitors paying the highest per referral, as opposed to the best value conveyancing in Polesworth

Me and my husband accepted an offer on a Polesworth flat left to us 8 years ago in 2010. I have over a decades worth of conveyancing experience and, now retired, wish to carry out the conveyancing. The purchaser's solicitor has informed me that their bank will not allow us to do our own conveyancing mandating that the funds to be sent to a solicitor's bank account.

Mortgage instructions to lawyers from all mainstream lenders state that If the seller is not legally represented the buyer’s lawyers should check whether the bank needs to be informed so that a decision can be reached as to whether or not they are willing to move forward.