My fiance and I are hoping to buy a house in Aperfield and have instructed a Aperfield conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Halifax have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Aperfield solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for the mortgage company. 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 lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Aperfield lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
My lawyer in Aperfield is not on the Halifax Conveyancing Panel. Can I still use my prefered solicitor notwithstanding that they are excluded from the Halifax approved list?
The limited options available to you here include:
- Carry on with your existing Aperfield lawyers but Halifax will need to instruct a lawyer on their list of acceptable firms. This will inevitably rack up the overall conveyancing charges as well as result in frustration.
- Get a new solicitor to act in the conveyancing, not forgetting to check they are Convince your solicitor to use their best endeavours to join the Halifax conveyancing panel
We are selling our property in Aperfield and according to the buyers it appears that there is a possibility that the property was built on contaminated land. A high street Aperfield lawyer would know this is not the case. It does beg the question why the buyers used a national conveyancing outfit as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Aperfield. We have lived in Aperfield for six years we know of no issue. Is it a good idea to contact our local Authority to seek confirmation need.
It would appear that you have a conveyancing lawyer currently acting for you. Are they able to advise? You must check with your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out life insurance to cover that same illness)
Due to the guidance of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a property in Aperfield ahead of retaining conveyancers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold overhang to the property. My surveyor has said that some banks tend refuse to give a mortgage on such a premises.
It varies from the lender to lender. Lloyds has different requirements for example to Halifax. Should you wish to telephone us we can look into this further with the appropriate bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Aperfield. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.
I'm refinancing my primary property to a buy to let loan with Halifax and intend to use the remaining equity towards a second property. The location we are looking at is Aperfield. Will your solicitors be able to act for the two banks and tie in the transactions?
Make use of our search tool on this page to be sure that the lawyers are approved by both banks. Having checked that they are the lawyer will be able to simultaneously deal with the two transactions but you should have a chat with you solicitor and make clear your desired outcome and requirements.
How much experience do your Aperfield conveyancing solicitors have with Help To Buy, Shared Equity and similar schemes?
Aperfield conveyancing lawyers help thousands of buyers move home every year and assisted plenty of clients through the Help To Buy scheme. The chances are that whatever makes your case unique Aperfield conveyancers have worked on recent similar matters.