I am selling my house in Barnes Cray and the EA has just text me to warn that the buyers are switching law firm. I am told that this is due to the fact that the mortgage company will only work with property lawyers on their conveyancing panel. On what basis would a big named mortgage company only deal with certain law firms rather the firm that they want to appoint for their conveyancing in Barnes Cray ?
UK lenders have always had an approved set of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the past few years big names such as Santander, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have acted for them for over 25 years.
Lending institutions attribute this action to a rise in fraud by way of justification for the pruning – criteria have been stiffened as a smaller panel is easier to keep an eye on. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is being contacted daily by practices 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 buyers are not going to have any sway in the decision.
As I am unsure how the conveyancing process works what is the most important advice you can give me concerning purchase conveyancing in Barnes Cray?
Not many law firms shout this from the rooftops but conveyancing in Barnes Cray and elsewhere in England and Wales is an adversarial experience. In other words, when it comes to conveyancing there exists plenty of room for conflict between you and other parties involved in the legal transfer of property. E.g., the vendor, selling agent and on occasion a bank. Choosing a solicitor for your conveyancing in Barnes Cray is a critical decision as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the ONLY party in the process whose interest is to look after your best interests and to protect you.
We are witnessing a definite increase of a "blame" culture- someone has to be at fault for the process being so protracted. We recommend that you should always trust your lawyer above all other players when it comes to the legal assignment of property.
The Barnes Cray conveyancing solicitors that I recently instructed on my purchase in Barnes Cray have without warning closed. I only went with them because I had to have a lawyer on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel and my previous Barnes Cray lawyer was not. I paid them funds 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 advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Kent Reliance 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 solicitors may be able to assist.
It has been three months following my purchase conveyancing in Barnes Cray took place. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £150,000 when infact I paid £160,000. 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 residence 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.
Is it best to choose a Barnes Cray conveyancing solicitor who is local to the property I am purchasing? I have an old university friend who can conduct the conveyancing however his firm is located 300kilometers drive away.
The primary upside of using a high street Barnes Cray conveyancing firm is that you can attend the office to execute documents, hand in your ID and pester them if necessary. Having local Barnes Cray know how is a benefit. However it's more important to get someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If if people you trust used your friend and in the main were content that must trump using an unfamiliar Barnes Cray conveyancing solicitor solely due to them being based in the area.
I am a negotiator for a long established estate agency in Barnes Cray where we have experienced a number of flat sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Barnes Cray conveyancing firms. Can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?
As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.
Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the purchaser.
I have tried to negotiate informally with with my landlord to extend my lease without getting anywhere. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal decide on such matters? Can you recommend a Barnes Cray conveyancing firm to assist?
in cases where there is a missing freeholder or where there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the LVT to arrive at the price payable.
An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Barnes Cray flat is Various @ Colombus Square in January 2012. the Tribunal calculated the premiums to be paid for new leases for each of the flats in Mariners Walk to be £3822 and the premium to be paid for the new lease of 2 Knights Court to be £4439. This case was in relation to 13 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 76 years.