The Dulwich conveyancing firm that just started acting on my house acquisition in Dulwich have without warning closed. They were on acting for me because I had to have a solicitor on the Co-operative conveyancing panel and my preferred Dulwich lawyer was not. I paid them £170 on account. What should be my next steps?
Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then inform them immediately so that they can let the sellers know 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 will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Co-operative 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 solicitors may be able to help.
I have paid off my mortgage with HSBC. I assume I don't need a Dulwich property lawyer on the HSBC panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.
If you have finished paying off your HSBC mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the HSBC mortgage from the register. HSBC, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where HSBC has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- HSBC has instructed the Land Registry to do so
After weeks of negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Dulwich. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their lawyer. I paid an upfront payment of £150. A couple of days later, the conveyancer contacted me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Virgin Money 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 Virgin Money 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.
I am selling my apartment. I had a double glazing fitted in October 2008, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My buyer's mortgage company, Bank of Ireland are being a right pain. The Dulwich solicitor who is on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel is happy to accept ‘lack of building regulation’ insurance but Bank of Ireland are insisting on a building regulation certificate. Why do Bank of Ireland have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?
It is probably the case that Bank of Ireland have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why Bank of Ireland may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing was correctly and safely installed. The indemnity insurance merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.
I have been told that property searches are the main cause of stalling in Dulwich conveyancing transactions. Is that correct?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) released conclusions of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature amongst the most frequent causes of hindrances during the legal transfer of property. Searches are unlikely to feature in any slowing down conveyancing in Dulwich.
I am buying a new build apartment in Dulwich. Conveyancing is necessary evil at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build legal work.
Here is a sample of a selection of leasehold new build questions that you should expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Dulwich
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Please supply a car parking plan. The Vendor must covenant to keep unoccupied units in good repair until long leases are granted therefore. Forfeiture - bankruptcy or liquidation must not apply under this provision. The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided. The Landlord must covenant to assume the management if the Management Company goes into liquidation or otherwise defaults in running the management scheme.
I have been on the look out for a leasehold apartment up to £195,000 and identified one round the corner in Dulwich I like with a park and transport links nearby, the downside is that it's only got 49 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Dulwich for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a lease with such few years left?
If you require a mortgage the shortness of the lease will be an issue. Discount the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for at least twenty four months you could ask them to start the process of the extension and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer regarding this.
What do I do if I am dissatisfied with the lawyer who undertook our conveyancing in Dulwich?
Occasionally the level of service you receive is not as you expect, and unfortunately sometimes matters do not go as planned. That being said there is recourse if you were unhappy with your conveyancing in Dulwich. This varies from trying to resolve matters directly with them, through to reporting a property lawyer to their governing body. If things still aren’t sorted out you may consider enlisting the help of the Legal Ombudsman.