My husband and I are looking to buy a house in Chafford Hundred and are in fact using a Chafford Hundred conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Halifax have this evening contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Chafford Hundred conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor 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 solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Chafford Hundred lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
There are plenty of conveyancing solicitors in Chafford Hundred but how do I know who I should use?
Do not opt for the lowest Chafford Hundred conveyancing quote. You really do get what you pay for when it comes to property lawyers. A cheap quote may mean that the conveyancing solicitor is handling a lot of jobs at one time and you won’t get the quality of service and the attention that you need. It is, however, wise to use a conveyancer who has a fixed fee on a no sale, no fee basis. This way, you go into the conveyancing with your eyes wide open.
The formalities of my remortgage has taken place for my property in Chafford Hundred. Conveyancing was satisfactory but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about the lender. How do I make a complaint?
All banks and building societies have complaints procedures. Your first point of contact should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Services Department at head office. Ordinarily complaints to a lender are sorted out very quickly. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service with full details of your complaint.
I recently had an offer accepted on a house in Chafford Hundred. My financial adviser recommended their conveyancers. I paid an advanced payment of £200. A few days later, the property lawyer called me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Bank of Ireland 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 Bank of Ireland 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 need some expedited conveyancing in Chafford Hundred as I am faced with an ultimatum to exchange contracts in less than 2 weeks. A home loan is not required. Is it possible to escape the need for conveyancing searches to save fees and time?
As you are are a cash buyer you are at free not to have searches conducted although no conveyancer would recommend that you don't. With lots of history conveyancing in Chafford Hundred the following are instances of issues that can crop up and therefore impact future mortgageability: Enforcement Actions, Overdue Fees, Outstanding Grants, Railway Schemes,...
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I have offered on last month in what was supposed to be a straight forward, chain free conveyancing. Chafford Hundred is where the house is located. Can you offer any advice?
Flying freeholds in Chafford Hundred are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Chafford Hundred you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds very carefully. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Chafford Hundred may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold property.
Back In 2001, I bought a leasehold house in Chafford Hundred. Conveyancing and Halifax mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1993. The conveyancing solicitor in Chafford Hundred who previously acted has long since retired. Any advice?
The first thing you should do is make enquiries of HMLR to be sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to instruct a Chafford Hundred conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for less than a fiver. You should note that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.
I have attempted and failed to negotiate with my landlord to extend my lease without getting anywhere. Can I apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal? Can you recommend a Chafford Hundred conveyancing firm to help?
Most definitely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Chafford Hundred conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Chafford Hundred flat is Various @ Colombus Square in January 2012. the Tribunal calculated the premiums to be paid for new leases for each of the flats in Mariners Walk to be £3822 and the premium to be paid for the new lease of 2 Knights Court to be £4439. This case affected 13 flats. The unexpired term as at the valuation date was 76 years.
I purchased a property in Chafford Hundred last 24/1/2025 and to date it is still not recorded with the Land Registry. It was part of a development site and my conveyancing practitioner told me that it may take twelve months to register. I have spoken with HMLR directly and they have informed me the original application was cancelled due to questions not being addressed in time. What can I do?
It is your solicitor that you should contact in order to satisfy any concerns which have arisen as part of the registration formalities for your Chafford Hundred property. Normal Chafford Hundred conveyancing practice includes an undertaking on the part of the seller's conveyancing practitioner that they will assist in resolving any registration raised by HMLR so it may be a case of seeking to enforce that undertaking in some way.