My wife and I are planning to purchase a house in Lake District and have appointed a Lake District conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. The Royal Bank of Scotland have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Lake District lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is usual for the purchasers' solicitors 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 Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer 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 solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Lake District solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Finally the sale completed on my house in Lake District last August but the buyer keeps telephoning me to say their solicitor is waiting to hear from mine. What should have happened following completion?
Following your disposal your conveyancer should forward the transfer documentation and all of the paperwork to the purchaser's conveyancer. Depending on the transaction, your conveyancer must also confirm that the mortgage has been redeemed to the purchasers lawyers. There is unlikely to be post completion procedures specific conveyancing in Lake District.
My grandmother passed away six months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the property in Lake District. The house had a relatively small loan remaining of approximately £4500. I want to transfer the title deeds into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Principality, pay off the mortgage. Is this allowed?
Given you intend to refinance then Principality will require that you use a conveyancer on the Principality 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 Principality 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 Principality mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
How does conveyancing in Lake District differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build residence in Lake District contact us having been asked by the housebuilder to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the residence is completed. This is because builders in Lake District typically acquire 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 Lake District or who has acted in the same development.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold element on a property I have offered on last month in what was supposed to be a straight forward, chain free conveyancing. Lake District is where the house is located. Can you shed any light on this issue?
Flying freeholds in Lake District are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Lake District you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds thoroughly. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Lake District 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 residence.
In searching the world wide web for the words cheap conveyancing in Lake District it shows results of numerous conveyancerslocally. How do I determine which is the right conveyancing solicitor for purchase transaction?
The best method of finding the right conveyancer is through a trusted referral, so enquire of friends and family who have purchased a property in Lake District or a local estate agent or mortgage broker. Charges for conveyancing in Lake District vary, so it's advisable to request at least four costs illustrations from different conveyancers. Be sure to secure confirmation that the costs are guaranteed not to to be inflated.