I am progressing with the sale of my home in Brownhills and the EA has just telephoned to advise that the purchasers are changing their property lawyer. The reason given is that the lender will only deal with property lawyers on their conveyancing panel. Why would a leading lender only deal with certain lawyers rather the firm that they want to choose for their conveyancing in Brownhills ?
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 Lloyds Banking Group, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have acted for them for more than 15 years.
Banks point to the increase in fraud as the reason for the pruning – criteria have been narrowed as a smaller panel is easier to oversee. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is hearing daily from firms that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms are unaware that 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 sway in the decision.
Are you able to vouch for a Accord Mortgages Ltd sanctioned Brownhills conveyancing practice that can complete within 28 days? Am I best advised to choose a local Brownhills solicitor or a factory type firm?
We would be happy to suggest some excellent Brownhills conveyancing firms. Another option is to visit the main road in Brownhills. Go in to two or three law practices and ask to speak with a conveyancing solicitor for a quote. Discuss your deadline together with the reasons and ask for a commitment on speed. Choose the one that you trust.
The Brownhills conveyancing firm that just started acting on my house acquisition in Brownhills have without warning shut down. I only went with them because I needed a lawyer on the UBS conveyancing panel and my previous Brownhills lawyer was not. I issued them a cheque for two hundred pounds in advance. What should be my next steps?
If you have an estate agent involved then let them know straight away so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Hopefully they will 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 UBS 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.
I have been told that property searches are the main reason for delay in Brownhills conveyancing transactions. Is there any truth in this?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) has noted the findings of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature amongst the top 10 causes of delays during the legal transfer of property. Local searches are unlikely to be the root cause of delay in conveyancing in Brownhills.
It has been 4 months following my purchase conveyancing in Brownhills concluded. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £150,000 when infact I paid £180,000. 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.
I have been on the look out for a leasehold apartment up to £235,500 and identified one close by in Brownhills I like with amenity areas and railway links nearby, the downside is that it only has 49 years on the lease. There is not much else in Brownhills for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error buying a lease with such few years left?
If you need a home loan that many years will be an issue. Discount the price by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current owner has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you may request that they commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor concerning this.