It is a dozen years since I acquired my house in Crofton Park. Conveyancing solicitors have just been appointed on the sale but I am unable to track down the deeds. Is this a major issue?
Don’t worry too much. Firstly there is a chance that the deeds will be retained by the lender or they could be in the possession of the conveyancers who oversaw your 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 solicitors procuring current official copies of the land registers. Nearly all conveyancing in Crofton Park relates to registered property but in the unlikely event that your property is unregistered it is more tricky but is not insurmountable.
The Crofton Park conveyancing lawyers that I appointed last week on my house acquisition in Crofton Park have without warning closed. They were on acting for me because I had to have a firm on the Santander conveyancing panel and my family Crofton Park lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take one hundred and fifty pounds for searches. What should be my next steps?
Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then inform them immediately so that they advise the vendors 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 Santander 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 lawyers should be in a position to help.
What will a local search tell me concerning the house my wife and I purchasing in Crofton Park?
Crofton Park conveyancing often commences with the submitting local authority searches directly from your local Authority or through a personal search company for example Xpress Legal The local search plays an important role in most Crofton Park conveyancing purchase; as long as you don’t want any nasty surprises after you move into your property. The search will supply information on, amongst other things, details on planning applications applicable 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 13 topic areas.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I put an offer in last month in what should have been a simple, no chain conveyancing. Crofton Park is where the house is located. Can you shed any light on this issue?
Flying freeholds in Crofton Park are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Crofton Park 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 Crofton Park 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 premises.
My husband and I are first time buyers - agreed a price, yet the property agent informed us that the owners will only issue a contract if we appoint the agent's chosen solicitors as they want an ‘expedited deal’. Our preferred option is to instruct a high street solicitor accustomed to conveyancing in Crofton Park
It is improbable the sellers are behind this. If they require ‘a quick sale', turning down a genuine purchaser is going to damage their objectives. Speak to the vendors direct and make sure they comprehend that (a)you are keen to buy (b)you are ready to progress, with mortgage lined up © you have nothing to sell (d) you intend to proceed fast (e)however you are going to instruct your preferred Crofton Park conveyancing firm - as opposed tothose that will give their negotiator at the agency a introducer fee or achieve conveyancing thresholds demanded by senior management.
My wife and I are acquiring a 2 bedroom flat in Crofton Park. At the point of instructing our lawyer, they said that they were on all mainstream lender panels. The mortgage broker called today to advise that they are not on the Santander approved list. Should that be true, what should we do? Should we just find a different conveyancer that is on their panel or do we cover the costs for dual representation, with Santander appointing their own approved conveyancer.
Where you are purchasing a property needing a mortgage it is usual for the purchaser’s solicitors to also act for the purchaser's lender. In order to act for a bank or building society a solicitor has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the conveyancer to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict conditions which the conveyancing practitioner has to satisfy. Some mortgage companies now require their panel firms to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should contact Santander to find out 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 Santander's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Crofton Park solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.