My husband and I are hoping to acquire a home in Caterham and are in fact using a Caterham conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Alliance & Leicester have this morning contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Caterham lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your mortgage company 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 are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Caterham solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
Completed the sale of my flat in Caterham last April yet the purchaser is whats apping daily to moan that their conveyancer needs to hear from mine. What are the post completion sale legalities now that I have sold?
Following your disposal your conveyancer should send the transfer deeds and all supplemental paperwork to the purchaser's solicitors. Depending on the transaction, your solicitor should also send confirmation that the mortgage has been redeemed to the buyers solicitors. There are no post completion requirements just for conveyancing in Caterham.
I happen to be the sole recipient of my late father’s estate and I have everything in my name alone, including the house in Caterham. The Caterham property was put into my name in October. I now wish to sell up. I do know about the CML 6 month 'rule', meaning my property ownership may be treated the same way as if I'd bought the house in October. Is the property unsalable for six months?
The CML handbook obliges conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." Technically you might be affected by that. Most lenders would take a sensible view as this requirement is chiefly there to pick up on the purchase and immediately sell or the wholesaling and assigning of property.
After much negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Caterham. My mortgage broker recommended their conveyancers. I paid an on account payment of £200. Not long after, the property lawyer called me to say that they were not on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Yorkshire BS panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
I am due to exchange contracts on my house. I had a double glazing fitted in July 2007, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My buyer's mortgage company, Yorkshire BS are being a right pain. The Caterham solicitor who is on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel is saying indemnity insurance will be fine but Yorkshire BS are insisting on a building regulation certificate. Why do Yorkshire BS have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?
It is probably the case that Yorkshire BS have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why Yorkshire BS may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing was correctly and safely installed. The indemnity insurance merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.
I have todayfound out that Arc property Solicitors have closed. They conducted my conveyancing in Caterham for a purchase of a leasehold apartment 12 months ago. How can I check that my home is not still registered in the name of the previous owner?
The easiest way to see if the premises is in your name, you can carry out a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Caterham conveyancing specialists.
As co-executor for the estate of my grandfather I am disposing of a residence in Neath but live in Caterham. My lawyer (based 200 miles awayhas requested that I execute a stat dec prior to the transaction finalising. Can you recommend a conveyancing lawyer in Caterham who can attest this legal document for me?
strictly speaking you are not likely to need to have the documents attested by a conveyancing solicitor. Ordinarily any notary public or solicitor will be fine regardless of whether they are located in Caterham
My wife and I have recently appointed a conveyancing solicitor in Caterham. I need to find out if they are listed on the lender's conveyancing panel. Could you help?
You should call the lawyer to enquire if they are on the bank's panel. Alternatively please get in touch with us and we can investigate and revert. Should the firm not be on the lender panel we we can help find a reputable conveyancing solicitor in Caterham on the panel for your lender.