My wife and I are looking to acquire a property in Kent and are in fact using a Kent conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Bank of Ireland have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Kent lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
If you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for 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 Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your bank and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Kent 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.
When does exchange of contracts take place for sale conveyancing in Kent and do I need to be at the conveyancers office?
If you are near to one of the conveyancing solicitors in Kent you are welcome to come in to sign contracts. However, the firms we recommend provide a national conveyancing service and give as equally comprehensive and professional a job for you when dealing with you by post or email. The executing of the sale agreement is not the point of no return. A signed contract simply enables the conveyancer to officially exchange at the appropriate time, which will usually be very shortly after signing. The procedure is nowadays normally dealt with by telephone and can be very rapid, although where a long "chain" is in play, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Kent)to be in the office at the appropriate time.
A colleague recommended that if I am purchasing in Kent I should ask my conveyancer to execute a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
A search of this type is usually quoted for as part of the standard Kent conveyancing searches. It is a large report of about 40 pages, listing and detailing significant information about Kent 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 demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime details, Kent Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information regarding Kent.
Just had an offer accepted on a new build apartment in Kent. Conveyancing is a frightening process 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 is a sample of a selection of leasehold new build questions that you can expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Kent
-
Please supply a car parking plan. Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. 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 Landlord must covenant to assume the management if the Management Company goes into liquidation or otherwise defaults in running the management scheme. The Vendor must covenant to keep unsold units in good repair until long leases are granted therefore.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I put an offer in two weeks back in what was supposed to be a simple, no chain conveyancing. Kent is where the house is located. What do you suggest?
Flying freeholds in Kent are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Kent you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds thoroughly. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Kent may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold property.
My wife and I have recently appointed a conveyancing solicitor in Kent. I need to find out if they are on the lender's conveyancing panel. Could you assist?
It’s a good idea contact your solicitor to enquire if they are on the bank's panel. If that does not help call us and we can make some checks for you. Should the firm not be on the conveyancing panel we can certainly arrange a specialist conveyancing solicitor in Kent on the panel for your mortgage company.