I am in the process of selling my ground floor flat in Gower and the estate agent has just text me to warn that the purchasers are changing their conveyancer. The reason given is that the mortgage company will only engage with solicitors on their conveyancing panel. On what basis would a major mortgage company only deal with specific solicitors rather the firm that they want to appoint for their conveyancing in Gower ?
Mortgage companies have always had an approved set of law firms that can represent them, but in recent years big names such as Yorkshire Building Society, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have represented them for over 25 years.
Lending institutions point to the increase in fraud as the reason for the cull – criteria have been tightened as a smaller panel is easier to keep an eye on. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Some are unaware that they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. Your buyers are not going to have any impact on this.
I am buying a house for cash in Gower. I have lived for the previous Seventeen years in Gower. Conveyancing searches are a lot of money. Given that I know the road and vicinity very well should I not bother getting the solicitor to do all the conveyancing searches?
Provided that you do not need a mortgage, then all but one or two of the Gower conveyancing searches are at your discretion. Your solicitor will ’encourage you, perhaps strongly, that you should have searches carried out, but she is duty bound to take that path of encouragement . One thing to consider; if you are going to dispose of the house in the future, it may be of relevance to your prospective buyer what the searches contain. On occasion properties with functional issues can still throw up adverse search results. A good conveyancing solicitor in Gower will be able to give you some helpful guidance in this regard.
What is the best way to check that the solicitor carrying out my conveyancing in Gower is on the bank’sapproved panel? I am looking to avoid the situation of having one lawyer for me and one for Coventry Building Society thus spending £187.00 plus VAT in further conveyancing costs.
Feel free to make use of the search tool on this site. Pick the lender and type ‘Gower’ or your location and you will see numerous conveyancers offices in Gower or nearest you.
Will commercial conveyancing searches reveal proposed roadworks that could affect a commercial land in Gower?
Its becoming the norm that commercial conveyancing solicitors in Gower will order a SiteSolutions Highways report as it dramatically cuts the time that conveyancers expend in investigating accurate data on highways that impact buildings and development assets in Gower. The search result sets out definitive information on the adoption status of roads, footpaths and verges, as well as the implication of traffic schemes and the rights of way surrounding a commercial development sites in Gower.
For every commercial conveyancing transaction in Gower it is crucial to investigate the adoption status of roads surrounding a site. The absence of identifying developments where adoption procedures have not been dealt with adequately can result in delays to Gower commercial conveyancing deals as well as present a risk to future intentions for the site. These searches are not conducted for residential conveyancing in Gower.
I used Wolstenholmes a few years past for my conveyancing in Gower. Now, I need the files but the law firm is no longer operating. What do I do?
You should contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Gower of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously instructed, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
We are soon to complete buying a property in Gower but as a consequence of damage from the recent storms I have negotiated compensation from the seller of £2k by way of a deduction in the price. This was going to be dealt with as part of the conveyancing process yet the lender will not agree to this. Should they have been informed?
The conveyancer being on the mortgage company conveyancing panel is required to disclose to the mortgage company of any changes to the sale figure. In the event that you were to refuse your conveyancing practitioner to report the price change to your lender then they would need to disinstructing themselves from representing you and the bank.