We were just about to exchange contracts for a ground floor flat in Andover. We encountered a problem. Our mortgage offer with Nottingham Building Society expires on 7/10/2026 but the owners are putting forward a completion date of 9/10/2026. Can one prolong the mortgage offer?
The best person to address this issue is your solicitors who will hopefully assess if they better off negotiating with the mortgage broker, seller’s conveyancers, estate agents or possibly all parties based on what has gone on in your transaction as of today.
The Andover conveyancing solicitors that just started acting on my house acquisition in Andover have without warning closed. I only went with them because I had to have a lawyer on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel and my family Andover lawyer was not. I wrote them a cheque for two hundred pounds in advance. What do I do now?
Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then inform them straight away so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers should be in a position to help.
We are purchasing a property and the solicitor has mentioned Chancel Repair for which the property could be obligated to contribute to because it falls into the area of such a church. He has mentioned insurance. Is this strictly appropriate for conveyancing in Andover
Unless a previous purchase of the property completed after 12 October 2013 you could expect solicitors delivering conveyancing in Andover to remain recommending a chancel search and or chancel repair liability policy.
How does conveyancing in Andover differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build residence in Andover approach us having been asked by the housebuilder to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the house is completed. This is because new home sellers in Andover tend to purchase the site, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are accustomed to new build conveyancing in Andover or who has acted in the same development.
Am I better off to go with a Andover conveyancing lawyer who is local to the property I am purchasing? I have an old university friend who can handle the conveyancing however they are based 300miles drive away.
The primary upside of using a local Andover conveyancing firm is that you can drop in to sign paperwork, deliver your identification documents and apply pressure on them where appropriate. Having local Andover know how is a bonus. However it's more important to get someone that will do a good and efficient job. If you know people who instructed your friend and in the main were impressed that must trump using an unfamiliar Andover conveyancing lawyer solely due to them being based in the area.
The solicitors undertaking our conveyancing in Andover has forwarded papers to review that show the land is unregistered with epitome documents. Is it not the case that all houses in Andover are registered?
Whilst the vast majorities of properties in Andover are now registered with HMLR there are still some that remain unregistered. Any property in Andover that has been transferred since the late 1980’s will have been registered at the HMLR under the compulsory ‘first registration’ scheme. However, if a Andover property has not changed hands in that time then it’s likely the old fashioned title deeds will be the only evidence of ownership.Plenty of Andover conveyancing practitioners will be familiar with such matters but where uncertainty reigns the usual recommendation nowadays seems to be for the vendor’s solicitor to register it first and subsequently sell - this will have a domino effect to cause a significant delay.