My partner and I are looking to acquire a property in Horbury and have instructed a Horbury conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Yorkshire Building Society have this evening contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Horbury conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
If you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor 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 lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Horbury lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Some advice if I may. My Horbury lawyer is advising me that she is duty bound toapply for Horbury conveyancing searches asthe firm are on the Virgin Moneysolicitor panel. Is this really necessary?
You have limited options available to you. Given that you are taking out a loan with a lender your property lawyer has to comply with their conditions as set out in their version of the CML Conveyancing Handbook. Your solicitor would have previously signed the Terms and Conditions of your bank’s conveyancing panel appointment which obliges them to follow the CML Handbook requirements . Even if you were a cash buyer you would be ill advised not to carry out Horbury conveyancing searches.
When can the exchange of contracts happen for domestic conveyancing in Horbury and do I need to attend the conveyancers branch?
If you are round the corner to our conveyancing solicitors in Horbury you are invited in to sign documents. That being said, the law practices we recommend offer countrywide coverage for conveyancing and give just as detailed and professional a job for you when communicating with you by post or email. The executing of the property agreement is not the point of no return. Signing on the dotted line is just a prerequisite for the conveyancer to officially exchange when the time is right, which is ordinarily shortly after signing. The procedure is nowadays normally dealt with by telephone and can be very rapid, although where a lengthy "chain" is in play, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Horbury)to be in the office at the appropriate time.
My grandmother passed away last year and as sole heir and executor I was left the house in Horbury. The house had a relatively small loan left on it of around £5k. I want to transfer the title deeds into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Nottingham, pay off the mortgage. Is this allowed?
Given you intend to re-mortgage then Nottingham will insist on your using a conveyancer on the Nottingham conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your Nottingham conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the Nottingham mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified during conveyancing in Horbury?
Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in Horbury. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
I opted to have a survey carried out on a property in Horbury in advance of instructing lawyers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold element to the property. The surveyor advised that some banks tend not give a loan on such a house.
It varies from the lender to lender. Lloyds has different instructions from Birmingham Midshires. If you call us we can check 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 Horbury. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.