It is is a decade since I purchased my house in Isle of Dogs. Conveyancing lawyers have recently been instructed on the sale but I can't locate my title documents. Will this jeopardise the sale?
You need not be too concerned. Firstly the deeds may be retained by the lender or they could be archived with the conveyancers who acted in the purchase. Secondly in most cases the land will be recorded at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you are the registered owner by your conveyancing solicitors obtaining up to date copy of the land registers. Most conveyancing in Isle of Dogs involves registered property but in the rare situation where your home is unregistered it is more problematic but is resolvable.
The Isle of Dogs conveyancing lawyers that I appointed last week on my house acquisition in Isle of Dogs have suddenly shut down. They were on acting for me because I needed a firm on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel and my preferred Isle of Dogs lawyer was not. I paid them 275 plus VAT in advance. What do I do now?
If you have an estate agent involved then inform them immediately so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Most sellers would 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 Coventry BS 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 solicitors should be in a position to assist.
My bid for a property was accepted at auction in Isle of Dogs. Conveyancing is needed. What is next?
Given that you have now to in every practical sense signed on the dotted line you will need to hire the services of a conveyancing solicitor quickly as you are faced with a tight a drop dead date to complete the property. An auction property should have a corresponding legal set of papers. This will include most,if not all of the paperwork that your conveyancer will need. Where you are dealing with leasehold property the legal papers should provide a copy of the lease, management information and a sellers leasehold information form and other conveyancing documentation specific to a leasehold property. You should give this to the lawyer working for you as soon as possible. Do make sure that your finances are organised to complete on the on the contractual date .
I have paid off my mortgage with Co-operative. I assume I don't need a Isle of Dogs conveyancer on the Co-operative panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your Co-operative 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 Co-operative mortgage from the register. Co-operative, 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 Co-operative has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Co-operative has instructed the Land Registry to do so
I currently have a mortgage with Santander for my property in Isle of Dogs. Conveyancing has been completed a year 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 Santander?
Santander must be informed of your intention before renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Santander’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Santander will permit you to let 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 Santander directly. You need not do this via a Santander conveyancing panel firm.
My colleague advised me that where I am purchasing in Isle of Dogs I should ask my conveyancer to perform a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
This is a search is sometimes quoted for as part of the standard Isle of Dogs conveyancing searches. It is not a small document of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out important information about Isle of Dogs around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, Isle of Dogs Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data regarding Isle of Dogs.
Am I right to be suspicious about brokers that I am dealing with are encouraging me to use a factory type conveyancing firm rather than a High Street Isle of Dogs conveyancing company?
As with lots of professional services, often input from connections can be most helpful. But there are lots of players in a conveyancing matter; estate agents, financial adviser and lenders may recommend lawyers to instruct. Sometimes these solicitors might be known to one of the organisations as being good in their field, but sometimes there exists a commercial relationship behind the endorsement. You are at liberty to select your own conveyancer. You need to be aware that some mortgage providers have an approved list of conveyancers you must use for the mortgage related work in your transaction.
We are a fortnight into a residential purchase having been referred to solicitors by the high street agent to carry out the conveyancing in Isle of Dogs. I am am extremely dissatisfied with the level of service. Could you help me find new lawyers?
A lawyer would have to be very bad to suggest changing them. Has the mortgage been sent? In the event that it has you will need to inform them of the new contact details and ensure the offer are issued to the new lawyers. Your new conveyancer needs to be on the lenders panel to avoid escalating fees and delays. So that should be your starting point. Our find a solicitor tool should assist you in finding a bank approved conveyancer for your conveyancing in Isle of Dogs