My husband and I are looking to buy a property in Highbury and are in fact using a Highbury conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Clydesdale have this evening contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Highbury solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is standard 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 property lawyer should contact your lender 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 bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Highbury solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
The Highbury conveyancing solicitors that I recently instructed on my house acquisition in Highbury have suddenly closed. I only went with them because I had to have a firm on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel and my family Highbury lawyer was not. I paid them funds on account. What do I do now?
If you have an estate agent involved then inform them immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers should be in a position to help.
My wife and I are purchasing a flat in Highbury. I might seem paranoid but how we can trust a conveyancer? At some point we have to send our life savings into their account. What is the protection we have from them run away with our monies?
Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.
I have paid off my mortgage with Kent Reliance. I assume I don't need a Highbury lawyer on the Kent Reliance panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your Kent Reliance mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Kent Reliance mortgage from the register. Kent Reliance, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where Kent Reliance has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Kent Reliance has instructed the Land Registry to do so
I currently have a mortgage with Clydesdale for my property in Highbury. Conveyancing has been completed months ago. In the event that I decide to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Clydesdale?
Clydesdale must be informed of your intention prior to letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Clydesdale’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Clydesdale directly. You need not do this via a Clydesdale conveyancing panel lawyer.
Just had an offer accepted on a new build apartment in Highbury. Conveyancing is daunting at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build conveyancing.
Here are examples of a few leasehold new build enquiries that you can expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Highbury
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There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants. Has the Lease plan been approved by the Land Registry and if not when will they be lodged for this purpose? If there are lifts in the building, please confirm that the owners of flats on the ground and basement floors will not be required to contribute towards the cost of maintenance and renewal. The Vendor must covenant to keep unoccupied units in good repair until long leases are granted therefore.
I opted to have a survey done on a house in Highbury in advance of retaining conveyancers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold overhang to the property. The surveyor advised that some lenders tend refuse to give a mortgage on such a home.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Bank of Scotland has different requirements from Nationwide. Should you wish to call us we can look into this further with the appropriate lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Highbury. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.
Some months ago I was told by my bank that their approved conveyancers work on no completion no charge basis for conveyancing in Highbury. Our purchase fell through yet the conveyancers have invoiced for search fees! They are claiming that the fees are seperate!
By offering "no sale no fee" Highbury conveyancing practices are waiving their fees for any work carried out. We must stress this is not to be regarded as an insurance scheme. you will still be expected to reimburse any disbursements that your solicitor has outlayed for you such as Highbury local authority searches