My fiance and I are planning to buy a property in Derbyshire and are in fact using a Derbyshire conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Nottingham Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Derbyshire lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the mortgage company. 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 Quality 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 solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Derbyshire lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
In the event thatI was to acquire a freehold homein Derbyshire mortgage fee and have no survey and no local authority searches how much could I expect to have to pay for conveyancing in Derbyshire?
Any savings you would gain would be limited to the Derbyshire conveyancing searches. The solicitor still got to do everything else - money laundering, communicating with your vendors conveyancing practitioner, stamp duty return, register the title etc. A marginal saving might be made by not having to register a charge but it won't be a lot.
We are selling our home in Derbyshire. Does the lawyer need to be required to be on the UBS conveyancing panel in order to deal with paying off my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the UBS 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 specifications fairly frequently in recent years.
My bid for a property was accepted at auction in Derbyshire. Conveyancing is needed. What happens now?
Now that you are exchanged you should retain a conveyancing solicitor quickly as you are facing a pending deadline in which to complete the deal. Every auction property will ordinarily have a corresponding legal set of papers. This should include the copy title deeds, local authority and drainage searches. In the case of leasehold property the conveyancing pack should include a copy of the lease, management information and a sellers leasehold information form and associated conveyancing paperwork specific to a leasehold property. You need to give this to your appointed conveyancing solicitor as soon as possible. Do make sure that that you have the requisite funding in place to complete on the date specified in the contract.
Are all Derbyshire Conveyancing Quality Solicitors on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel?
Some major lenders now use the accreditation scheme as the kick off point for Panel approval such as HSBC and Santander. CQS membership however gives no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. Nevertheless,the Council of Mortgage Lenders have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for solicitors wishing to remain on their panels.
I am purchasing a property in Derbyshire. An unusual aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Principality have issued a mortgage offer so presumably this is not a concern to them. Why is my solicitor raising questions about the panel?
As your lender is Principality your lawyer must check the conveyancing instructions outlined in Section two of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Principality. The CML Handbook contains minimum conditions for solar panel roof-space leases, and lawyers are required to report to Principality where a lease does not satisfy these specifications. The requirements relate to the installation of panels on properties in England and Wales and is not isolated to Derbyshire.
As co-executor for the estate of my aunt I am disposing of a property in Cardiff but I am based in Derbyshire. My conveyancer (who is 235 miles awayhas requested that I sign a stat dec before the transaction finalising. Could you suggest a conveyancing lawyer in Derbyshire who can witness and place their company stamp on the document?
Technically speaking you should not need to have the documents witnessed by a conveyancing solicitor. Normally any notary public or solicitor will be fine regardless of whether they are Derbyshire based
I cannot be present at my Derbyshire conveyancing lawyers office to execute documents for conveyancing in Derbyshire – is this a problem?
You need not be concerned. Derbyshire conveyancing solicitors can deal with conveyancing transactions for clients nationwide. You are unlikely to be required to attend a Derbyshire conveyancers office. Almost all property lawyer can handle all communications using post, email, telephone and fax.