My fiance and I are hoping to purchase a property in Bitterne and have appointed a Bitterne conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Leeds Building Society have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Bitterne conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' solicitors 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 bank 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 Bitterne solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
I am in a contract race with another buyer for a property in Bitterne. What can be done to expedite the buying process?
In the event that the seller is applying a tight deadline to exchange it is highly recommended that your solicitor is familiar with the area as they will have local relationships and insight. It is even conceivable that they would have handled previoushomes in the same street. You would be best advised to use a Bitterne conveyancing solicitor. Second, make sure that the conveyancing firm is on the member panel. It is estimated that just under twenty per cent of Bitterne conveyancing transactions are delayed or derailed after finding out that a buyer’s conveyancer was not on their mortgage lender’s list of approved solicitors. In many cases this discovery resulted in the legal transfer of property being frustrated by an average of 21 days. It is said that this issue affects in the region of one hundred thousand home sales annually. Almost all Bitterne conveyancing firms can not represent certain banks so do check at the outset.
We note that you have a post code search directory identifying firms on the UBS conveyancing panel. Do companies pay you a commission if I appoint them for our own conveyancing in Bitterne?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the UBS conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint for your conveyancing in Bitterne.
My uncle pointed out to me me that in buying a property in Bitterne there may be various restrictions preventing external alterations to a property. Is this right?
We are aware of a number of properties in Bitterne which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to external changes. Part of the conveyancing in Bitterne should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.
Is it the case that all Bitterne CQS (Conveyancing Quality Scheme) solicitors are on the Principality conveyancing list of approved firms?
It is true that some lenders now use the accreditation scheme as the starting point for Panel membership such as HSBC and Santander. CQS accreditation however is no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. That being said,the CML have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for solicitors wishing to remain on their approved list of conveyancing solicitors.
Completion of my purchase has taken place for my property in Bitterne. Conveyancing was a necessary evil but I would like to complain about the lender. How do I make a complaint?
Most lenders have complaints procedures. Your first port of call should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Services Team at head office. Ordinarily complaints to a lender are sorted out very quickly. If you feel the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service, South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR who will take matters further.
My friend suggested that if I am buying in Bitterne 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 Bitterne conveyancing searches. It is not a small document of about 40 pages, listing and detailing important information about Bitterne 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 House Prices, Crime details, Local Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data regarding Bitterne.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified as part of conveyancing in Bitterne?
Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in Bitterne. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’