My husband and I are looking to purchase a flat in Didsbury and are in fact using a Didsbury conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Barnsley Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Didsbury lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance 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 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 lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Didsbury lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
Are the Didsbury conveyancing solicitors identified as being on the Nationwide conveyancing panel, together with their details provided by Nationwide?
Didsbury conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Nationwide conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Nationwide directly.
Should my conveyancer be making enquiries about flooding as part of the conveyancing in Didsbury.
Flooding is a growing risk for solicitors carrying out conveyancing in Didsbury. Some people will acquire a house in Didsbury, fully aware that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. However, aside from the physical damage, where a property is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to get a mortgage, suitable insurance cover, or dispose of the premises. Steps can be carried out during the course of a property purchase to forewarn the purchaser.
Conveyancers are not qualified to impart advice on flood risk, but there are a various searches that may be carried out by the purchaser or on a buyer’s behalf which will give them a better appreciation of the risks in Didsbury. The standard completed inquiry forms sent to a purchaser’s solicitor (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) incorporates a standard question of the seller to determine if the property has ever been flooded. If the property has been flooded in past and is not revealed by the owner, then a purchaser may issue a claim for damages stemming from an incorrect reply. A buyer’s conveyancers will also conduct an enviro search. This will reveal whether there is any known flood risk. If so, further inquiries will need to be conducted.
2 months have elapsed following my purchase conveyancing in Didsbury completed. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £175,000 when infact I paid £180,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the property from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
Due to the encouragement of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Didsbury before instructing conveyancers. I have been told that there is a flying freehold element to the property. Our surveyor advised that some banks tend not give a mortgage on such a home.
It varies from the lender to lender. Santander has different instructions for example to Nationwide. Should you wish to telephone us we can look into this further with the relevant bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Didsbury. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Didsbury especially if they are accustomed to such properties in Didsbury.
We have been advised by numerous estate agents that it may take six to eight weeks for Didsbury conveyancing to complete.This was four weeks ago. The paperwork was only received to my solicitor yesterday so does the clock start running now?
Don't rely on moving on a set date until contracts are exchanged. Regardless of the assurances the people you are acquiring from or selling to make, or your conveyancer provides don't bank on them. More stress is caused to clients trying to move home by false assurances than anything else.