My husband and I are looking to buy a house in Gunnislake and are in fact using a Gunnislake conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Britannia have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Gunnislake lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent 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 property lawyer 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 and you may continue to use your own Gunnislake solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
What does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in Gunnislake? Is this really necessary?
Gunnislake conveyancing solicitors and indeed property lawyers accross the UK have an obligation under Anti-terror and anti-money-laundering rules to check the ID of any client in order to ensure that clients are who they say they are.
Conveyancing clients are required to provide two forms of certified identification; proof of identity (usually a Passport or Driving Licence) and proof of address (typically a Utility Bill no older than three months).
Evidence of the origin of monies is also necessary in accordance with the money laundering regulations as solicitors are obliged to ensure that the money you are using to buy a property (be it the exchange deposit or the total purchase amount where you are buying without a mortgage) has originated from legitimate source (such as employment savings) as opposed to the product of criminal behaviour.
My Conveyancer in Gunnislake is not on the Platform Home Loans Ltd Solicitor Panel. Can I still use my family solicitor even though they are not on the Platform Home Loans Ltd panel?
Your options are as follows:
- Carry on with your existing Gunnislake lawyers but Platform Home Loans Ltd will need to use a lawyer on their panel. This will inevitably rack up the total legal fees and result in frustration.
- Choose an alternative lawyer to act in the purchase, not forgetting to check they are Platform Home Loans Ltd approved.
- Persuade your Platform Home Loans Ltd solicitor to try to join the Platform Home Loans Ltd panel
Is it possible to transfer to a new firm as I have to find a firm on the Bank of Scotland conveyancing list. I instructed a family conveyancing solicitor in Gunnislake five minutes from me but she is not approved by Bank of Scotland
It would be our pleasure to assist you find a conveyancing solicitor in Gunnislake on the Bank of Scotland panel. Please note that the solicitors that we list do not pay us a referral fee if you instruct them and are authorised and regulated by the SRA who oversee all conveyancing solicitors in Gunnislake. Using search facility on this website, you can compare and instruct different solicitors and conveyancers both nationally and in Gunnislake.
My partner has recommend that I use his conveyancers in Gunnislake. Do I follow his advice?
No doubt the ideal way to select a conveyancing solicitor is to get guidance from friends or family who have used the firm you're are thinking of instructing.
Do online conveyancing organisations cover everything a local Gunnislake solicitor does or do I still need to retain a solicitor for the final stages for my conveyancing in Gunnislake?
If you use an online conveyancer they will cover all the work your Gunnislake solicitor would cover.