My partner and I are planning to acquire a property in Harbury and have instructed a Harbury conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Clydesdale have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Harbury conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your mortgage company 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 and you may continue to use your own Harbury solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
I am purchasing a house for cash in Harbury. I have resided for the previous 20 years in Harbury. Conveyancing searches are exorbitant. Given that I know the road and vicinity intimately should I not bother getting the solicitor to do all the conveyancing searches?
If you not getting a mortgage, then all but one or two of the Harbury conveyancing searches are non-obligatory. Your lawyer will 'advise', perhaps strongly, that you should have searches carried out, but she has a professional duty to do this. Do take into account; if you are intend to sell the house at a future date, it may be of importance to your future buyer what the searches contain. There are plenty of instances where properties with no practical issues can still show up unexpected search results. A competent conveyancing solicitor in Harbury should be able to give you some constructive guidance here.
Can I use your services to recommend a Conveyancing solicitor in Harbury even if I’m not purchasing or selling a house, for example if I wish to buy a shop in Harbury with a loan from Bank of Ireland?
Our search tool is mainly used to locate domestic conveyancing solicitors in Harbury but we have set out towards the end of this page a few Harbury commercial conveyancing firms. You should enquire with the company directly to check if they are also authorised to represent Bank of Ireland
Two weeks ago we had a mortgage agreed in principle with HSBC. Harbury conveyancing lawyers were selected. What is the average time that one could expect to receive a mortgage offer from HSBC?
Some lenders take longer than others. Have HSBC done the survey? Have you informed HSBC as to your lawyers' details and checked that your lawyers are on the HSBC conveyancing panel? It is not unusual for a mortgage offer to take a month to come through.
After shopping around on the internet I have found a Harbury solicitor having checked that they are on the Principality conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
Principality will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Principality will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own Harbury surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.
I have finally had an offer on an apartment in Harbury agreed to, the sellers do however have an associated purchase. The vendors have placed an offer on on an apartment, but it’s not yet tied up, and have viewings of other properties in the pipeline. I have chosen a nearby conveyancing solicitor in Harbury. What do I do now? When do I get the mortgage application with Clydesdale started?
It is normal to have anxieties where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to incur costs too early (mortgage application is in the region of one thousand pounds, then valuation, Harbury conveyancing search costs, etc). The first thing to do is check that your property lawyer is on the Clydesdale approved list. As to the subsequent phase this very much depends on the uniqueness of your transaction, attraction to this property and on the state of the market. In a buoyant market many buyers will apply for the mortgage with Clydesdale and arrange for the valuation and only if it was satisfactory would they request their conveyancing practitioner to proceed with the conveyancing in Harbury.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold element on a property I put an offer in a fortnight ago in what should have been a quick, chain free conveyancing. Harbury is where the house is located. Is there any guidance you can impart?
Flying freeholds in Harbury are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Harbury you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds very carefully. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Harbury may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.
We are contemplating choosing a web based lawyer rather than a Harbury conveyancing practice. Any advice?
Numerous benefits exist in being able to attend a local Harbury conveyancing solicitor for example
- signing documents on short notice
- having face-to-face explanations of matters that need explaining
- the ability to complain if matters are not going as expected
When checking estimates, look out for hidden extras. Most decent Harbury high street solicitors give an all-inclusive price. Often online companies seem to offer cheap fees, but have hidden 'extras' in the in the terms and conditions.