My husband and I are planning to purchase a house in Downton and are in fact using a Downton conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Halifax have this morning contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Downton solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
Where you are buying a property requiring 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 Accreditation 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 are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Downton lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Can I use your services to find a Conveyancing solicitor in Downton even where I’m not buying or selling a house, for example if I intend to buy a shop in Downton with a loan from Birmingham Midshires?
Our search tool is predominantly utilised to help choose residential conveyancing solicitors in Downton but we have set out towards the end of this page a few Downton commercial conveyancing firms. You should enquire with the firm directly to check if they are also authorised to represent Birmingham Midshires
My fiance and I intend to purchase a purpose built apartment in Downton with a mortgage from Barclays .We would like to retain our Downton conveyancing practitioner but Barclays says her practice is not listed on their "panel". It seems we are left with no choice but to instruct a Barclays panel firm or keep our local solicitor and pay for a Barclays panel lawyer to act for them. This seems very unfair; Can we not simply insist that Barclays use our lawyer?
Unfortunately,no. The mortgage offered to you contains terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers needs to be on the Barclays approved list. in the past, most mortgage companies had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could find one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your solicitors to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Barclays
This question may be naive but I am unexperienced as FTB of a garden flat in Downton. Do I pick up the keys to the house on completion from my solicitor? If this is the case, I will appoint a local conveyancing solicitor in Downton?
There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Conveyancing lawyers for you will transfer the purchase money to the vendor’s solicitors, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you should be able to collect the keys from the Estate Agents and move into your new home. Usually this happens early afternoon.
I am being advised by my lawyer that lack of planning permission insurance is necessary on my purchase. What is the typical level of cover needed for conveyancing in Downton?
The right level of lack of planning permission indemnity insurance depends on your lender. It would differ for example between Birmingham Midshires and Bank of Scotland. Conveyancing lawyers as opposed to borrowers take out such policies.
I recently had an offer agreed on a house in Downton. My financial adviser suggested a property lawyer. I paid an advanced payment of £225. Not long after, the property lawyer contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Coventry BS panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up as part of conveyancing in Downton?
Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Downton. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
What does commercial conveyancing in Downton cover?
Downton conveyancing for business premises covers a broad range of advice, supplied by qualified solicitors, relating to business premises. For instance, this area of conveyancing can cover the sale or purchase of freehold business premises or, more usually, the assignment of existing business tenancies or the drafting of new leasing arrangements. Commercial conveyancing solicitors can also offer advice on the sale of business assets, commercial loans and the termination of leases.