It is a dozen years since I acquired my property in Horsford. Conveyancing lawyers have recently been retained on the sale but I can't find my title deeds. Will this cause complications?
You need not be too concerned. First there is a possibility that the deeds will be kept by your lender or they may be in the possession of the lawyers who oversaw your purchase. Secondly the chances are that the land will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you are the registered owner by your conveyancing solicitors procuring up to date copy of the land registers. The vast majority of conveyancing in Horsford involves registered property but in the rare situation where your property is not registered it adds to the complexity but is not insurmountable.
The Horsford conveyancing solicitors that I recently instructed on my house acquisition in Horsford have without warning shut down. I only went with them because I needed a lawyer on the UBS conveyancing panel and my family Horsford lawyer was not. I wrote them a cheque for two hundred pounds in advance. What do I do now?
Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then inform them immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the UBS 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 may be able to help.
I need some expedited conveyancing in Horsford as I am faced with an ultimatum to complete inside one month. Fortunately I do not require a mortgage. Is it possible to decline from having conveyancing searches to save money and time?
As you are not getting a mortgage you have the choice not to have searches conducted although no solicitor would suggest that you don't. Drawing on years of experience of conveyancing in Horsford the following are instances of what can crop up and therefore impact the marketability of the property: Refused Planning Applications, Outstanding Charges, Outstanding Grants, Unadopted Roads,...
How does conveyancing in Horsford differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build premises in Horsford approach us having been asked by the seller to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the property is finished. This is because developers in Horsford typically purchase the land, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are accustomed to new build conveyancing in Horsford or who has acted in the same development.
Should I use a Horsford conveyancing lawyer who is local to the property I am buying? An old friend can execute the legal formalities however her office is over three hundred miles away.
The primary upside of using a high street Horsford conveyancing firm is that you can drop in to sign documents, deliver your identification documents and pester them where appropriate. They will also have local insight which is a bonus. That being said nothing is more important than finding someone that will do a good and efficient job. If other friends have instructed your friend and on the whole were impressed that must outweigh using an unfamiliar Horsford conveyancing solicitor solely due to them being Horsford based.
My step-son is embarking on her first house purchase, the home loan was agreed last week in principle. After the seller agreed the offer on the flat we contacted the mortgage company to issue the formal offer. I was shocked to hear that mortgage lenders do not accept all property lawyer, they must be on their panel, is this correct?
Banks normally restrict either the type or the number of conveyancing practices on their approved list of lawyers. A common example of such restriction(s) being that a firm must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some have decided to limit the number of firms they use to represent them. You should note that banks have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any Horsford lawyer on their panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of conveyancing panels a few years ago and whilst there are differing views about the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms only carry out one or two conveyances a year. Those supporting conveyancing panel cuts ask why law firms should have the right to be on a Lender panel when clearly, conveyancing is not their speciality. To put it another way; would you want a conveyancing solicitor to represent you if you were charged with a crime? Unlikely.