My fiance and I are hoping to acquire a home in Ealing and have instructed a Ealing conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Bank of Ireland have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Ealing conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for 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 bank 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 lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Ealing 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.
Do the conveyancing lawyers listed on your site carry out conveyancing in Ealing by way of an attended exchange?
There are a few conveyancing specialists who can conduct personalised exchanges. You should contact us to receive a fee calculation and details as to dates.
We note that you have a post code search directory listing firms on the Nationwide conveyancing panel. Do firms pay you a commission if I retain them for our conveyancing in Ealing?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the Nationwide conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint for your conveyancing in Ealing.
I am the sole beneficiary of my late mum's will and I have everything in my name now, including the house in Ealing. Conveyancing formalities meant that the Land Registry date was in June. I now wish to sell up. I understand that there is a Mortgage Lenders six month 'rule', which means that my proprietorship will be considered the same way as though I had purchased the property in June. Will no one buy the property for half a year?
The CML handbook obliges solicitors to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." Technically you may be impacted by that. Some mortgage companies would take a pragmatic view as this obligation is chiefly there to pick up on the purchase and immediately sell or the wholesaling and assigning of property.
We have a mortgage agreed in principle with Bank of Ireland. Ealing conveyancing lawyers have been selected. What is the average time that one could expect to receive a mortgage offer from Bank of Ireland?
There is no definitive answer here. Have Bank of Ireland done the valuation? Have you informed Bank of Ireland as to your lawyers' details and checked that your lawyers are on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel? It is not unusual for a mortgage offer to take a month to come through.
My offer on a detached house in Ealing has been accepted, but there is a chain. The owners have offered on somewhere, but it’s not been accepted yet, and are looking at other properties in the pipeline. I have instructed a nearby conveyancing solicitor in Ealing. What should be my next step? When should I get the mortgage application with Nationwide started?
It is normal to have anxieties where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to incur expenses prematurely (mortgage application is in the region of £1k, then survey, Ealing conveyancing search charges, etc). First, you must check that your conveyancer is on the Nationwide approved list. As to the next steps this very much depends on the circumstances of your transaction, attraction to this property and on the state of the market. In a buoyant market the majority of purchasers would apply for a home loan with Nationwide and arrange for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they pay their conveyancing practitioner to press on with searches.
My wife and I have a semi-detached Edwardian property in Ealing. Conveyancing lawyer acted for me and Leeds Building Society. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw a couple of entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold with the exact same property. I'd like to know for sure, how can I find out??
You should read the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Ealing and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they remortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also enquire as to the position with the conveyancing lawyer who completed the work.
We are one month into a freehold purchase having been referred to solicitors by the local agent to perform conveyancing in Ealing. We are not happy. Could you you assist me in finding new solicitors?
They would have to be very poor to suggest diss instructing them. Has the mortgage been generated? If so you must inform them of the new contact details and have the offer are re-sent. Your solicitor ideally should be on the lenders approved list to avoid supplemental costs and delays. That should be your first question of the new conveyancers. The search tool can help you find a bank approved solicitor for your conveyancing in Ealing