I am progressing with the sale of my ground floor flat in Aylesford and the estate agent has just e-mailed to warn that the buyers are swapping conveyancer. The reason given is that the lender will only engage with solicitors on their conveyancing panel. On what basis would a big named mortgage company only engage with certain solicitors rather the firm that they want to select to handle their conveyancing in Aylesford ?
Mortgage companies have always had an approved set of law firms that can represent them, but in the past few years big names such as Nationwide, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have acted for them for more than 15 years.
Lending institutions blame a rise in fraud as the reason for the reduction – criteria have been stiffened as a smaller panel is easier to monitor. Banks tend not to disclose how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is hearing daily from firms that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. The purchasers are not going to have any impact on this.
The Aylesford conveyancing solicitors that I appointed last week on my house acquisition in Aylesford have without warning closed. They were on acting for me because I had to have a solicitor on the HSBC conveyancing panel and my previous Aylesford lawyer was not. I paid them £170 in advance. What do I do now?
If you have an estate agent involved 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. Hopefully they will 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 HSBC 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.
It has been five months since my purchase conveyancing in Aylesford completed. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £200,000 when infact I paid £170,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the premises from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
How does conveyancing in Aylesford differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build residence in Aylesford come to us having been asked by the builder to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the premises is finished. This is because builders in Aylesford typically 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 property lawyers 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 Aylesford or who has acted in the same development.
Taking into account that I will soon part with 450k on 3 bedroom house in Aylesford I wish to talk to a conveyancer about myconveyancing ahead of appointing the firm. Can this be arranged?
We could not agree more - it is our preference to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you liaising with the solicitor due to be doing your property ownership legalities in Aylesford.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - every client is unique individual, not a case reference. The solicitors that we put you in touch with believe that the fees you are provided with for your conveyancing in Aylesford should be the figure that you are charged.
What do I do if I am unhappy with the lawyer who carried out our conveyancing in Aylesford?
We live in an imperfect world, and is is a fact of life that every so often matters do not go as planned. That being said there is recourse where you were not happy with your conveyancing in Aylesford. This varies from trying to resolve matters directly with them, through to reporting a lawyer to their regulator. If you remain dissatisfied you may consider enlisting the help of the Legal Ombudsman.