My wife and I are planning to acquire a flat in Custom House and are in fact using a Custom House conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Clydesdale have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Custom House conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors 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 Custom House lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
Some advice if I may. My Custom House conveyancer is advising me that he is legally obliged toconduct Custom House conveyancing searches asthe firm are on the Virgin Moneyapproved lawyer panel. Is this really necessary?
Unfortunately both you and your lawyer have little choice here. As you are taking a home loan with a lender your conveyancing practitioner has to comply with their conditions as set out in their version of the CML Conveyancing Handbook. Your solicitor would have previously signed the Terms and Conditions of your bank’s conveyancing panel appointment which obliges them to follow the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook provisions . Even if you were a cash buyer you would be ill advised not to carry out Custom House conveyancing searches.
I had intended to instruct a conveyancing solicitor in Custom House for our house move. Our broker informed us that our mortgage company Halifax won't deal with them. Surely this is unfair competition?
Mortgage Companies normally restrict either the category or the amount of conveyancing solicitors on their approved list of lawyers. A common example of such restriction(s) being that a law practice must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the profile of firm, a few banks have reduced the number of solicitor practices they allow to act for them. You should note that Halifax have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any member of Halifax Conveyancer Panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the reduction of solicitor panels a few years ago even though there are differing views concerning the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that plenty of law firms, including some in or near Custom House only execute very few conveyances per annum.
Various online forums that I have frequented warn that are a common cause of delay in Custom House house deals. Is there any truth in this?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) released conclusions of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature amongst the most frequent causes of hindrances in the conveyancing process. Local searches are not likely to be the root cause of holding up conveyancing in Custom House.
In sourcing the world wide web for the term on line conveyancing in Custom House it reveals numerous solicitorsin the vicinity. With so much choice what is the best way to find the right solicitor for me?
The best way of choosing a suitable conveyancer is through a personal recommendation, so ask friends and family who have purchased a property in Custom House or a respected estate agent or financial adviser. Charges for conveyancing in Custom House vary, so it's a good idea to request at least four estimates from varying types of solicitors. Make sure that you clarify what costs in the quote includes.
I have been searching for Custom House competitive conveyancing fees. Can I be sure that all the Custom House firms that are identified on your site are on the lender conveyancing panel?
The law firms listed on our site have advised us that they are on the lender panel and agreed to advise us to take down their listing in the event of removal off of the mortgage company panel. To date we have not been informed by either a bank or a member of the public that the data about a specific Custom House firm being on the bank conveyancing panel is incorrect.