My wife and I are planning to buy a house in Bude and have instructed a Bude conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Chelsea Building Society have this morning contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Bude solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
If you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent 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 Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Bude solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Are the Bude conveyancing solicitors identified as being on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel, together with their details provided by Leeds Building Society?
Bude conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Leeds Building Society directly.
I am buying a flat and require a conveyancing solicitor in Bude who is on the Virgin Money approved. Can you recommend a local firm?
Our service is limited to being a directory service for firms who wish to listed as being on the approved conveyancing panel for Virgin Money in certain locations such as Bude. We dont recommend any particular firm.
How does conveyancing in Bude differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build property in Bude contact us having been asked by the housebuilder to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the premises is ready to move into. This is because new home sellers in Bude tend to purchase the site, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct property lawyers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are used to new build conveyancing in Bude or who has acted in the same development.
I need to instruct a conveyancing practitioner in Bude for my house move. Is there any facility to review a firm’s record with the profession’s regulator?
Members of the public may review published Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) decisions stemming from investigations started on or after Jan 2008. Go to Check a solicitor's record. For records Pre 2008, or to check a solicitors history, call 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and 09.30 - 18.00 Tuesday. International callers, use +44 (0)121 329 6800. The regulator sometimes recorded telephone calls for training reasons.
I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Bude. Before I set the wheels in motion I would like to find out the remaining lease term.
If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and almost all are in Bude - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title. For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.
Bude Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries Prior to Purchasing
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Most Bude leasehold properties will incur a service bill for maintenance of the building set by the freeholder. Where you purchase the property you will have to meet this liability, normally periodically accross the year. This may vary from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for blocks with lifts and large communal areas. There will also be a rentcharge to be met yearly, this is usually not a significant amount, say approximately £25-£75 but you need to enquire it because sometimes it can be surprisingly expensive. How many years are left on the lease? Where a Bude lease has no more than 80 years it will have adverse implications on the salability of the apartment. Check with your lender that they are willing to to proceed given the lease term. A short lease means that you will most likely require a lease extension sooner rather than later and it is worth discovering what this will be. Remember, in most cases you would need to own the property for 24 months in order to be legally able to carry out a lease extension.