Having sold my house in Higham Wood last November but my buyer keeps calling me to moan that his lawyer is waiting to hear from mine. What are the post completion sale legalities following completion?
After completion of your sale your solicitor should deliver the transfer documentation and all supplemental paperwork to the purchaser's solicitors. Depending on the transaction, your solicitor must also send confirmation that the mortgage has been discharged to the purchasers lawyers. There are no post completion requirements specific conveyancing in Higham Wood.
We hope to to buy with Darlington Building Society. I went into a few local solicitors yet cant to find a Higham Wood conveyancing firm on the Darlington Building Society panel. Can you help?
Feel free to make use of the find a lender approved solicitor tool on this page. Please choose the building society and type Higham Wood or your location and you will discover numerous solicitors offices in Higham Wood or nearest you.
I happen to be the only beneficiary of my late mum's will with all property in now in my sole name, including the my former home in Higham Wood. Conveyancing formalities meant that the Land Registry date was in June. I now wish to sell up. I do know about the CML 6 month 'rule', meaning my property ownership may be considered the same way as though I had purchased the property in June. Is the property unsalable for six months?
The CML handbook instructs conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." Technically you could be impacted by that. Most banks would take a pragmatic view as this provision primarily exists to identify subsales or the wholesaling and assigning of properties.
Is it the case that all Higham Wood solicitor firms on the HSBC conveyancing panel are overseen by the SRA?
As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the HSBC conveyancing panel they would need to be governed by the SRA. Some banks do allow licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such organisation would be overseen by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.
Completion of my purchase has taken place for my property in Higham Wood. Conveyancing was satisfactory but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about the lender. How does one go about formally complaining?
Most banks and building societies have complaints procedures. Your first point of contact should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Services Department at head office. In most cases complaints to a lender are resolved effectively and efficiently. If you feel the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service, South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR who will take matters further.
My wife and I own a 4 bedroom Georgian house in Higham Wood. Conveyancing lawyer acted for me and Lloyds TSB Bank. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are a couple of entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold with the exact same property. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?
You should review the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be 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 Higham Wood 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 buyers. You can also enquire as to the position with your conveyancing solicitor who conducted the conveyancing.
Am I right to be concerned by brokers that I am dealing with are recommending an online conveyancing firm rather than a local Higham Wood conveyancing practice?
As with many service providers, often referrals from relatives can be extremely useful or valuable. But there are numerous players in a conveyancing matter; estate agents, mortgage brokers and banks may suggest conveyancers to choose. Sometimes the lawyers might be known to one of the organisations as experts in their field, but sometimes there behind the scenes financial incentive behind the recommendation. You are at liberty to select your preferred conveyancer. Don't forget that the majority of mortgage providers specify a panel list of solicitors you must use for the lender aspect of your home move.
One month into a sale of a flat in Higham Wood. Conveyancing is fine but we have been asked to pay a fortune from the landlord. So far we have forked out £295.50 for a leasehold management information and then a further £134.40 for responses to queries raised by the buyers lawyer.
You will not have control over the extent of the bill for this information but the typical fee for the information for Higham Wood leasehold premises is £350. For Higham Wood conveyancing transactions it is standard for the vendor to cover the costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to address such questions although many will agree to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices disproportionate to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no legislation that requires fixed fees for administrative tasks. Neither is there any statutory time limit by which they are obliged to issue answers.