My wife and I are hoping to purchase a home in Clacton On Sea and have instructed a Clacton On Sea conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Aldermore have this evening contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Clacton On Sea lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is standard 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 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 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 Clacton On Sea solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
Our god-son is about to exchange on a new build apartment in Clacton On Sea with a mortgage from Yorkshire BS. His solicitor has advised him of a delay in receiving the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. What is this document - I have never come across this before?
The document is intended to provide information to the main parties engaged in the purchase. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the valuer when asked. The developer will be required to start the process by downloading the form and completing it. The form will therefore need to be available for the valuer at the time of his or her site visit. The form should be sent to the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.
The Clacton On Sea conveyancing firm that just started acting on my purchase in Clacton On Sea have without warning shut down. I only went with them because I had to have a solicitor on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel and my family Clacton On Sea lawyer was not. I paid them £170 in advance. What should be my next steps?
If you have an estate agent involved then inform them straight away so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors may be able to help.
Should our conveyancer be making enquiries concerning flooding as part of the conveyancing in Clacton On Sea.
The risk of flooding is if increasing concern for solicitors dealing with homes in Clacton On Sea. There are those who acquire a property in Clacton On Sea, completely aware that at some time, it may be flooded. However, leaving to one side the physical damage, where a house is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to get a mortgage, satisfactory insurance cover, or sell the premises. Steps can be carried out during the course of a property purchase to forewarn the buyer.
Conveyancers are not qualified to give advice on flood risk, but there are a various checks that can be undertaken by the buyer or on a buyer’s behalf which can give them a better understanding of the risks in Clacton On Sea. The conventional set of property information forms sent to a buyer’s solicitor (where the Conveyancing Protocol is adopted) includes a usual inquiry of the vendor to determine if the premises has ever been flooded. If flooding has previously occurred and is not revealed by the seller, then a buyer could issue a compensation claim as a result of such an inaccurate response. A purchaser’s lawyers may also carry out an enviro search. This should reveal if there is a recorded flood risk. If so, additional inquiries should be initiated.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £235,500 and identified one round the corner in Clacton On Sea I like with amenity areas and railway links in the vicinity, however it only has 52 years unexpired on the lease. There is not much else in Clacton On Sea for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a short lease?
If you need a mortgage that many years will be an issue. Discount the price by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you could request that they start the process of the extension and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor about this matter.
I need to find a conveyancing solicitor for residential conveyancing in Clacton On Sea. I happened to stumble across a site which seems to have the ideal answer If it is possible to get all the legals done via web that would be ideal. Do I need to be concerned? What are the potential pitfalls?
As usual with these online conveyancers you need to read ALL the small print - did you notice the extra charge for dealing with the mortgage?