My husband and I are hoping to purchase a house in Chesham Bois and have instructed a Chesham Bois conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer 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 there is now an issue as our Chesham Bois lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is conventional 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 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 bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Chesham Bois solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
My partner and I have recently bought a house in Chesham Bois. We have since encountered a number of problems with the property which we believe were missed in the conveyancing searches. What action can we take? Can you clarify the type of searches that should have been ordered as part of conveyancing in Chesham Bois?
It is not clear from the question as what problems have arisen and if they are specific to conveyancing in Chesham Bois. Conveyancing searches and investigations undertaken during the legal transfer of property are designed to help avoid problems. As part of the legal transfer of property, the vendor answers a document called a Seller’s Property Information Form. answers proves to be misleading, then you may have a claim against the seller for any losses that you have suffered. The survey should have identified any problems with the structure of the property. Assuming a detailed survey was carried out and the issues were not identified, you may have a claim against the surveyor. However, if you did not have a full survey, you may be responsible for fixing any defects that have now been noted. We would always encourage buyers to take every possible step to ensure they are completely aware of the condition of a property before purchase regardless of whether they are buying in Chesham Bois.
It is is a decade since I purchased my house in Chesham Bois. Conveyancing solicitors have now been appointed on the sale but I can't locate the deeds. Is this a problem?
You need not be too concerned. First there is a chance that the deeds will be retained by the mortgage company or they could be archived with the solicitor who acted in the purchase. Secondly in most cases the property will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to prove you are the registered owner by your conveyancing lawyers procuring current official copies of the land registers. Nearly all conveyancing in Chesham Bois involves registered property but in the unlikely event that your home is unregistered it adds to the complexity but is resolvable.
We are selling our house in Chesham Bois. Does my solicitor have to be required to be on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel in order to deal with the discharge of my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their conditions fairly frequently currently.
Do I need to take out insurance to address the risk of chancel repairs when purchasing a residence in Chesham Bois?
Unless a previous purchase of the premises completed post 12 October 2013 you can expect solicitors conducting conveyancing in Chesham Bois to remain encouraging a chancel search and or chancel repair liability policy.
I note that you have a search directory listing solicitors on the lender conveyancing panel. Do Chesham Bois conveyancing companies pay you a commission if I appoint them for my own conveyancing?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the mortgage company conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to the any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint for your conveyancing in Chesham Bois.