My fiance and I are looking to buy a home in Anstey and have instructed a Anstey conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Skipton Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Anstey lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for 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 Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer 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 are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Anstey solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Finally the sale completed on my house in Anstey last November but my buyer keeps whats apping me to moan that his solicitor is waiting to hear from mysolicitor. What should have happened now that I have sold?
After completion of your house sale your conveyancer should deliver the transfer documentation and all of the paperwork to the buyer’s conveyancer. Depending on the transaction, your lawyer must also evidence that the home loan has been discharged to the purchasers conveyancers. There is unlikely to be post completion requirements specific conveyancing in Anstey.
I'm the sole recipient of my late father’s estate and I have everything in my name now, including the my former home in Anstey. Conveyancing formalities meant that the Land Registry date was in May. I want to move. I understand that there is a CML six month 'rule', which means that my proprietorship could be treated the same way as though I had purchased the house in May. Is the property unsalable for six months?
The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ handbook mandates conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you could be affected by that. Some lenders would take a pragmatic view as this obligation is primarily there to capture the purchase and immediately sell or the quick reselling of property.
Is it the case that all Anstey solicitor practices on the Aldermore conveyancing panel are governed by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?
As solicitors, in order to be on the Aldermore conveyancing panel they would need to be governed by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. Many mortgage companies do allow licenced conveyancers on their panel and in that case the practice would be governed by the CLC.
I am selling my apartment. I had a double glazing fitted in September 2006, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My buyer's mortgage company, Co-operative are being problematic. The Anstey solicitor who is on the Co-operative conveyancing panel is recommending indemnity insurance as a solution but Co-operative are requiring a building regulation certificate. Why do Co-operative have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?
It is probably the case that Co-operative have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why Co-operative may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing was correctly and safely installed. The indemnity insurance merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.
A relative recommended that if I am buying in Anstey I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is usually quoted for as part of the standard Anstey conveyancing searches. It is not a small document of about 40 pages, listing and setting out significant information about Anstey around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Local Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data about Anstey.
I purchased a 4 bedroom Edwardian property in Anstey. Conveyancing lawyer represented me and Clydesdale. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw two entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold with the exact same address. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?
You need to assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Anstey and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they sell they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with mortgage companies. You can also enquire as to the position with your conveyancing solicitor who conducted the purchase.
Should I use a Anstey conveyancing lawyer who is local to the property I am hoping to buy? We have a good friend who can handle the legal work however his firm is located approximately 350kilometers away.
The benefit of a high street Anstey conveyancing firm is that you can visit the firm to execute documents, hand in your ID and pester them where appropriate. Having local Anstey know how is a benefit. That being said it's more important to get someone that will do a good and efficient job. If other friends have used your friend and on the whole were impressed that should outweigh using an unknown Anstey conveyancing solicitor solely due to them being Anstey based.