My husband and I are hoping to acquire a house in Baguley and have instructed a Baguley conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Godiva Mortgages Ltd have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Baguley conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is normal 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 Accreditation 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Baguley solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
I am hoping to complete my purchase in Baguley next Friday. My property lawyer now wants me to supply her with evidence of content and building insurance for the property as he says that he has to check this in his capacity as lawyer for the lender. What risks does the lender expect the insurance to cover?
All property lawyers on acting for lenders would need to check that the following risks are covered fire; lightning; aircraft; explosion; earthquake; storm; flood; escape of water or oil; riot; malicious damage; theft or attempted theft; falling trees and branches and aerials; subsidence; heave;landslip;collision;accidental damage to underground services;professional fees, demolition and site clearance costs; and public liability to anyone else. There are some other issues such as the level of excess that are set out in a lender’s UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook instructions. These requirements are not unique to conveyancing in Baguley.
I had intended to instruct a conveyancing solicitor in Baguley for our house move. Our financial adviser has since advised us that our bank Leeds Building Society won't deal with them. Why is this not regarded as unduly restrictive?
A lender will require an approved conveyancer act for it. You would be expected to bear the charges for this. Do use our directory service to select a solicitor to carry conveyancing in Baguley on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel.
We are getting the release of further funds on our mortgage from Coventry BS as we wish to carry out renovations to our house in Baguley. Do we need to appoint a bricks and mortar Baguley solicitor on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel to deal with the legals?
Coventry BS would not normally require a member of their conveyancing panel to handle the formalities. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Coventry BS list.
I recently had an offer agreed on an apartment in Baguley. My mortgage broker suggested a lawyer. I paid an on account payment of £150. Soon after, the property lawyer contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Santander 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 Santander 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.
Our sealed bid on a semi in Baguley has been accepted, the sellers do however have an associated purchase. The vendors have placed an offer on a flat, but it’s not yet agreed to, and are looking at other flats in the pipeline. I have chosen a local conveyancing solicitor in Baguley. What do I do now? When should I get the mortgage application with TSB going?
It is usual to have apprehensions where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to incur expenses too early (mortgage application is approx £1k, then valuation, Baguley conveyancing search charges, etc). First, you should check that your lawyer is on the TSB conveyancing panel. Concerning the subsequent steps this very much dictated by the uniqueness of your case, desire for this property and on the state of the market. In a hot market some home buyers would apply for the mortgage with TSB and arrange for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they ask their lawyer to move forward with the conveyancing in Baguley.
I am looking for a conveyancing lawyer in Baguley for my remortgage. Is there any facility to review a firm’s complaints history with the legal regulator?
One can see presented Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) decisions stemming from investigations from 2008 onwards. Visit Check a solicitor's record. For details about the period before 1 January 2008, or to check a solicitors history, ring 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 any week day save for Tuesday when lines open at 9.30am. For non-uk callers, call +44 (0)121 329 6800. The SRA sometimes monitor call for training purposes.
There are numerous houses in Baguley on private roads. We are acquiring one such property. What are the pros and cons of buying a property on a privately owned road?
Baguley conveyancing practices will be well versed in conveyancing propertieson private. The conveyancer will investigate title to find any rights or responsibilities. In many cases there is a management company (wholly owned by residents) that owners make annual payments for the upkeep of the road. Where one exists, the road should be maintained and appear better than council adopted.