My wife and I are looking to purchase a property in Lacock and are in fact using a Lacock conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. The Mortgage Works have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Lacock solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
If you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers 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 lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Lacock lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
It is 10 years ago since I bought my house in Lacock. Conveyancing solicitors have just been instructed on the sale but I can't track down my title documents. Will this jeopardise the sale?
Don’t worry too much. Firstly the deeds may be kept by the lender or they may be archived with the lawyers who acted in the purchase. Secondly in all probability the property will be recorded at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you own the property by your conveyancing solicitors acquiring up to date copy of the land registers. The vast majority of conveyancing in Lacock relates to registered property but in the unlikely event that your property is not registered it is more problematic but is not insurmountable.
I have paid off my mortgage with Barclays. I assume I don't need a Lacock conveyancing practitioner on the Barclays panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your Barclays 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 Barclays mortgage from the register. Barclays, 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 Barclays has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Barclays has instructed the Land Registry to do so
I recently had an offer accepted on a house in Lacock. My financial adviser pressured me to appoint their conveyancer. I paid an on account payment of £175. A few days later, the property lawyer called me to say that they were not on the Nationwide conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Nationwide panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
I have instructed a Lacock property lawyer having checked that they are on the TSB conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
TSB will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually TSB will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. Your property lawyer will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by your Lacock postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with TSB, you could contact them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors in Lacock.
How does conveyancing in Lacock differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build premises in Lacock contact us having been asked by the developer to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the property is completed. This is because developers in Lacock typically buy the real estate, 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 conveyancing solicitors 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 Lacock or who has acted in the same development.
I have been on the look out for a flat up to £195,000 and found one near me in Lacock I like with open areas and station in the vicinity, however it's only got 61 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Lacock in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a lease with such few years left?
If you require a home loan the shortness of the lease will be problematic. Reduce the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for a minimum of twenty four months you can ask them to start the process of the extension and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor concerning this matter.
Should I be wary by brokers that I am dealing with are encouraging me to use an internet conveyancing firm as opposed to a High Street Lacock conveyancing practice?
As is the case with many professional services, often input from connections can be most helpful. Nevertheless there are many people with a keen interest in a conveyancing deal; estate agents, financial adviser and banks may suggest solicitors to use. Sometimes these conveyancers might be known to one of the organisations as being good in their field, but occasionally there might be a commercial relationship behind the endorsement. You are at liberty to select your own lawyer. Don't forget that many mortgage providers specify a panel list of conveyancers you must use for the mortgage related work in your home move.