Awareness of an area's issues and concerns can mean the difference between a stress-free move, and a drawn-out and difficult process. By building contacts with local authorities, your Solicitor can deliver Conveyancing with fewer delays, and keep you better informed. With regard to issues commonly arising during Brockley home-moves, your Solicitor will also utilise their area experience to anticipate and resolve these before they affect you.

Official Local Authority Searches in Brockley

When buying a home in Brockley a Solicitor is required by your lender to conduct Official Local Authority Searches. The Local Authority for Brockley is London Borough of Lewisham Council, Town Hall, Catford, London, SE6 4RU. Tel:

Brockley Stamp Duty Relief

Designated areas as 'disadvantaged areas' may qualify for relief from stamp duty. In England and Wales, they are based on electoral wards. These disadvantaged areas do not always coincide with postcode districts, so the postcode search tool cannot always be relied on. Note that normal rates of duty apply sales above £150,000. By making a straightforward search by postcode, you can usually determine if a property purchase below £150,000 will benefit, however. This search may not be 100% reliable, particularly in the case of new builds.

What are the consequences if your solicitor is not on your lender's panel?

Panels of solicitors are maintained by mortgage lenders in order to undertake legal work on mortgaged properties. More recently, lenders have begun to remove firms which have either not completed many conveyancing transactions or have failed to meet other criteria. If your conveyancing solicitor is not on your preferred lender's panel, then the lender will not instruct that firm to act in connection with the mortgage. You then have a choice:

• Try to obtain a mortgage from another lender who will instruct your Conveyancing solicitor.
• Instruct another firm of Conveyancing solicitors who are on your lender's panel to handle your Conveyancing.
• Continue with your present Conveyancing solicitor, but accept that a separate firm will also act for the lender, and that you will have to pay their costs in addition.

It is usually cheaper to have the same firm act both for you and your lender, and carry out all the conveyancing work in connection with a purchase and the mortgage. If you decide to instruct another firm because they are on your lender's panel, you should bear in mind the following:

• The new firm might charge more or may charge additional fees.
• You might still have to pay your old firm for work they have already completed.
• The new firm may have no knowledge of the Brockley area.