My husband and I are looking to acquire a flat in Laleham and are in fact using a Laleham conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Clydesdale have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Laleham solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent 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 bank 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Laleham lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
We see that you have a post code search directory identifying firms on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel. Do firms pay you a commission if I retain them for our own conveyancing in Laleham?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint for your conveyancing in Laleham.
We are selling our flat in Laleham. Will my conveyancer need to be on the RBS conveyancing panel in order to deal with repayment of my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the RBS conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their specifications fairly frequently currently.
What does a local search reveal regarding the house I am buying in Laleham?
Laleham conveyancing often starts with the submitting local authority searches directly from your local Authority or via a personal search company such as PSG The local search plays an important role in many a Laleham conveyancing purchase; that is if you don’t want any unpleasant once you have moved into your property. The search should supply data on, amongst other things, details on planning applications relevant to the premises (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of 13 topic areas.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up as part of conveyancing in Laleham?
Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in Laleham. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
Due to the input of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a property in Laleham before retaining solicitors. I have been told that there is a flying freehold overhang to the house. The surveyor advised that some mortgage companies may refuse to issue a mortgage on such a home.
It depends who your proposed lender is. HSBC has different requirements from Halifax. Should you wish to call us we can check via the relevant lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Laleham. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Laleham to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.