My wife and I are planning to purchase a property in Bristol and are in fact using a Bristol conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Barclays Direct have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Bristol solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is conventional 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Bristol solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
I am buying a house for cash in Bristol. I have lived for the last Seventeen years in Bristol. Conveyancing searches are expensive. As I have knowledge of the road and vicinity intimately should I not bother getting the solicitor to do all the conveyancing searches?
In the absence of a home loan, then almost all of the Bristol conveyancing searches are non-obligatory. Your lawyer will try and steer you, no-doubt strongly, that you should have searches done, but she has a professional duty to take that path of guidance. Do take into account; if you are likely to sell the house at a future date, it may be of interest to your future purchaser what the searches reveal. There are plenty of instances where premises with no practical issues can still throw up unpredicted search results. A good conveyancing solicitor in Bristol should provide you some practical advice concerning this.
I have a decision in principle. The lender mentioned the home loan came with free conveyancing. Does this mean I have to use their panel lawyer as I would much rather instruct a Bristol based conveyancing firm?
Do check but the the probability is that give you one of their panel lawyers if you accept the "fee-free" deal. Call the lender to determine if they offer you a monetary alternative. It is not unheard for a lender to give a £250 cashback as an alternative in which case you could put that amount towards the cost for your conveyancing solicitor near Bristol.
I need some quick conveyancing in Bristol as I am under pressure to complete inside one month. A mortgage is not required. Can I avoid the conveyancing searches to save fees and time?
If.Given you are not getting a mortgage you have the choice not to have searches conducted although no conveyancer would advise that you don't. Drawing on years of experience of conveyancing in Bristol the following are instances of what can crop up and adversely affect future mortgageability: Enforcement Actions, Outstanding Charges, Overdue Grants, Road Schemes,...
My father-in-law has suggested that I appoint his conveyancing solicitors in Bristol. Should I use them?
Much as we are happy to recommend a Bristol conveyancing lawyer it’s preferable to select a conveyancing lawyer is to seek feedback from friends or relatives who have used the solicitor you're contemplating using.
Why do Bristol conveyancing costs are more expensive for leasehold and freehold properties?
If purchasing a leasehold property there is more work involved purely due to the fact that usually there are further parties involved in the form of the freeholder and/or Management Agents. As part of a lawyers enquiries they will check that all ground rent and service charges are paid up to date amongst other general leasehold matters. For this reason, the Sellers lawyers usually have to refer to the freeholder or Managing Agent for their replies to our questions. This may be time consuming and beyond the lawyers control