My fiance and I are planning to acquire a property in Abercarn and have appointed a Abercarn conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Britannia have this evening contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Abercarn lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the purchaser's lender. 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 property lawyer should contact your bank 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 are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Abercarn solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
My partner and I are getting closer to an exchange on a property in Abercarn and my mum and dad have sent the exchange deposit to my conveyancing practitioner. I am now told that as the deposit has been received from someone other than me my conveyancing practitioner needs to disclose this to my bank. Apparently, in also acting for the bank he must advise them that the balance of the purchase price is coming from anyone other than me. I disclosed to the lender about my parents' contribution when I applied for the home loan, so is it really necessary for this now to be an issue?
Your property lawyer is duty bound to clarify with the bank to ensure that they understand that the balance of the purchase price is not from your own resources. Your solicitor can only notify this to your mortgage company if you agree, failing which, your lawyer must cease to continue acting.
Can I use your services to recommend a Conveyancing solicitor in Abercarn even where I’m not purchasing or selling a house, for example if I wish to acquire a shop in Abercarn with a mortgage from Halifax?
Our comparison service is predominantly used to find domestic conveyancing solicitors in Abercarn but we have set out towards the bottom of this page a selection of Abercarn commercial conveyancing firms. You will need to enquire with the firm directly to establish if they are also authorised to represent Halifax
My wife and I are in the throws of viewing apartments in Abercarn and I am about to put in an offer. Is it too early to have a solicitor in place? I will be getting a mortgage with Kent Reliance.
You should start requesting conveyancing quotes from solicitors ASAP. Once you decide who you want to use and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and forward their details on to the estate agent. Given that you are obtaining a mortgage with Kent Reliance, ask your prospective lawyers if they are on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.
After weeks of negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Abercarn. My mortgage broker suggested a conveyancer. I paid an on account payment of £225. A couple of days later, the solicitor called me sheepishly admitting 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 have instructed a Abercarn solicitor having checked that they are on the Lloyds conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
Lloyds will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Lloyds 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 Abercarn 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.
We are purchasing a house and the conveyancer has referenced Chancel Repair to which the property may be liable given it’s proximity to the area of such a church. He has suggested insurance. Is this really required for conveyancing in Abercarn
Unless a previous purchase of the premises completed after 12 October 2013 you can assume that solicitors handling conveyancing in Abercarn to remain recommending a chancel search and or chancel repair liability policy.
At long last our conveyancing in Abercarn is completing next Friday, yet the sellers I am purchasing from wants to vacate 24 hours later at at 2pm. Can I agree to such a idea?
You can't complete on a Saturday because the bank systems aren't working.