My husband and I are hoping to purchase a home in Criccieth and are in fact using a Criccieth conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Birmingham Midshires have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Criccieth solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
If you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent 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 lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Criccieth lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
Should conveyancers ask for money up-front for conveyancing in Criccieth?
If you are buying a property in Criccieth your lawyer will ask you put them with monies to cover the search fees. This will be the total of the cost of the Local Authority Search. If any down payment is payable against the sale price then this should be asked for immediately prior to exchange of contracts. Any further balance that is due should be transferred a couple of days ahead of the completion date.
What happens if my lawyer’s firm is expelled from the Barclays Conveyancing panel ahead of completing my conveyancing in Criccieth?
The first thing to point out is that, this is very unlikely to happen. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have to instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by a regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit for a fee.
My conveyancer has informed me that absentee landlord insurance is needed on my purchase. What is the level of cover for Criccieth conveyancing?
The right level of absentee landlord indemnity insurance depends on your lender. It would differ for example between Yorkshire Building Society and The Mortgage Works. Conveyancing practitioners as opposed to members of the public take out such policies.
We previously selected solicitors with offices in Criccieth on the Principality solicitor panel. They have just invoiced me an additional charge for handling the Principality mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee set by Principality?
As unfair as it may appear, as long as it’s in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your lawyer can levy a fee for this. The charge is not dictated by Principality but by your Criccieth lawyer. Numerous firms on the Principality panel will charge an ‘acting for lender’ fee and others do not.
The mortgage over my property is with Skipton for my property in Criccieth. Conveyancing was finalised some time ago. In the event that I decide to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform Skipton?
Your original mortgage agreement with Skipton will provide that you need their approval before renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Skipton’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Skipton directly. You need not do this via a Skipton conveyancing panel lawyer.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold element on a property I have offered on a fortnight ago in what was supposed to be a straight forward, chain free conveyancing. Criccieth is the location of the property. Can you shed any light on this issue?
Flying freeholds in Criccieth are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Criccieth you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds very carefully. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Criccieth 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.
My husband and I are first time buyers - had an offer accepted, yet the agent told us that the seller will only move forward if we appoint their chosen conveyancers as they are insisting on a ‘quick sale’. My instinct tells me that we should use a local solicitor who is familiar with conveyancing in Criccieth
It is highly unlikely the sellers are behind this. If they desire ‘a quick sale', turning down a serious buyer is likely to cause more damage than good. Avoid the agents and go straight to the sellers and make the point that (a)you are keen to buy (b)you are excited to move forward, with finances in place © you have nothing to sell (d) you wish to move quickly (e)however you will continue to use your preferred Criccieth conveyancing firm - as opposed tothose that will give the negotiator at the agency a referral fee or hit his conveyancing targets demanded by senior management.