My fiance and I are planning to purchase a home in Chandlers Ford and are in fact using a Chandlers Ford conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Skipton Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Chandlers Ford conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' lawyers 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer 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 lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Chandlers Ford solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
I am helping my step-mother sell her flat in Chandlers Ford. Does the conveyancing solicitor arrange an EPC or it is for me to coordinate?
Following the abolition of HIPs, energy performance certificates was kept a mandatory part of moving house. An energy performance certificate should be commissioned in advance of the property being put on the market. This is not as aspect of the sale process that solicitors ordinarily arrange. If you are using a Chandlers Ford conveyancing practitioner they might help arrange energy assessments given their relationships with long established Chandlers Ford energy assessors
Forgive me if this question is silly but I am unexperienced as FTB of a ground floor flat in Chandlers Ford. Do I pick up the keys to the premises on the completion date from my conveyancer? If this is the case, I will instruct a High Street conveyancing solicitor in Chandlers Ford?
On the day of completion you will not be required to attend the conveyancers office in Chandlers Ford. Conveyancing lawyers for you will arrange to send the purchase money to the owner’s lawyers, and once they have received this, you will be called to collect the keys from the Estate Agents and start moving into the property. Usually this happens early afternoon.
When it comes to mortgage companies such as Skipton, do Chandlers Ford conveyancers incur an annual charge to be on the conveyancing panel?
We are unaware of any bank fees to be on their list of approved firms, although some do levy an administration charge to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel application.
What can a local search inform me concerning the property my wife and I purchasing in Chandlers Ford?
Chandlers Ford conveyancing often starts with the ordering local authority searches directly from your local Authority or via a personal search company for instance PSG The local search is essential in every Chandlers Ford conveyancing purchase; that is if you don’t want any unpleasant surprises after you move into your new home. The search should supply information on, amongst other things, details on planning applications relevant to the premises (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of thirteen subject headings.
I have recentlyfound out that Action Conveyancing have been shut down. They conducted my conveyancing in Chandlers Ford for a purchase of a leasehold flat 18 months ago. How can I establish that the property is registered correctly in the name of the previous owner?
The quickest method to check if the premises is registered to you, 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 Chandlers Ford conveyancing specialists.
I opted to have a survey completed on a house in Chandlers Ford before retaining conveyancers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold overhang to the property. My surveyor advised that some banks tend refuse to issue a mortgage on a flying freehold home.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Santander has different instructions for example to Nationwide. Should you wish to telephone us we can investigate further via the relevant lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Chandlers Ford. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Chandlers Ford to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.
I was pointed in your direction by numerous estate agents in Chandlers Ford to get a quote from a property lawyer using your seach tool. What’s the financial inducement for Estate Agents to offer your lawyers over and above alternative conveyancing organisations?
We don’t give any referral fee for pointing buyers and sellers to this site. We thought it would be too underhand to pay a commission because members of the public would think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not getting any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.