It is a dozen years since I purchased my property in South Acton. Conveyancing solicitors have just been retained on the sale but I am unable to find the title deeds. Will this cause complications?

Don’t worry too much. Firstly the deeds may be with the lender or they may be archived with the lawyers who acted in the purchase. Secondly in most cases the title will be recorded at the land registry and you will be able to prove you own the property by your conveyancing lawyers acquiring current official copies of the land registers. Most conveyancing in South Acton relates to registered property but in the unlikely event that your property is not registered it is more tricky but is not insurmountable.

I happen to be the sole beneficiary of my late grandmother’s will and I have everything in my name alone, including the house in South Acton. The South Acton property was put into my name in December. I plan to dispose of the house. I do know about the CML six month 'rule', meaning my proprietorship could be regarded the same way as though I had purchased the property in December. Do I have to wait half a year to sell?

The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ handbook instructs conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." Technically you might be impacted by that. many lenders would take a pragmatic view as this clause is primarily there to pick up on the purchase and immediately sell or the flipping of property.

Can you point me to a directory of Lloyds panel conveyancers in South Acton on the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Website?

No. There is no such directory service on the CML or Building Society Association sites. Very few banks make their panel listings available over the internet. Where you are in need of a South Acton property lawyer on the Lloyds please make the most of our tool.

Is it the case that all South Acton solicitor firms on the Nottingham conveyancing panel are overseen by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?

As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the Nottingham conveyancing panel they would need to be governed by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. The majority of banks do list licenced conveyancers on their panel and in that case the practice would be governed by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.

Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to my home can not be found. The conveyancers who handled the conveyancing in South Acton 10 years ago have long since closed. What do I do?

You no longer need to have the physical official documentation to prove you are the registered proprietor of land or property, as the Land Registry have everything they need in a digital format.

I need to find a conveyancing solicitor for remortgage conveyancing in South Acton. I happened to land on a web site which looks to be the ideal offering If there is a chance to get all formalities completed via email that would be ideal. Should I be concerned? What are the potential pitfalls?

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?

My nephew is just in the process of moving house, he had his mortgage in principle. When the seller agreed the offer on the apartment we called the mortgage institution to issue the formal offer. I was very surprised to hear that mortgage companies do not accept all lawyer, they need to be on their approved list, is this correct?

Lenders ordinarily imposes restrictions either the type or the number of conveyancing firms on their approved list of lawyers. A common example of such restriction(s) being that a firm must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some have decided to limit the number of firms they use to represent them. You should note that lenders have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any South Acton conveyancing practitioner on their panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of conveyancing panels a few years ago and whilst there are differing views about the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms only carry out one or two conveyances a year. Those supporting conveyancing panel cuts ask why law firms should have the right to be on a Lender panel when clearly, conveyancing is not their speciality. To put it another way; would you want a conveyancing solicitor to represent you if you were charged with a crime? Probably not.