My husband and I are planning to buy a property in Lee On The Solent and have appointed a Lee On The Solent conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Barclays Direct have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Lee On The Solent conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is normal 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 solicitor 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 solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Lee On The Solent lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
Why do I have to pay up front for my conveyancing in Lee On The Solent?
Where you are retaining lawyers for conveyancing in Lee On The Solent your solicitor will ask you place them with monies to cover the search fees. This will be the total of the cost of the Local Authority Search. If any deposit is as part of the sale price then this should be asked for immediately ahead of exchange of contracts. The final balance that is due will be payable a few days ahead of the completion date.
Can you clarify what the consequences are if my solicitor is suspended from the RBS Solicitor panel ahead of completing my conveyancing in Lee On The Solent?
The first thing to point out is that, this is very unlikely to happen. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have to instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by a regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit at a cost.
I used Wolstenholmes several years past for my conveyancing in Lee On The Solent. I now require my papers but the law firm is no longer operating. What do I do?
Do contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Lee On The Solent of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously retained, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold element on a property I put an offer in last month in what should have been a quick, chain free conveyancing. Lee On The Solent is the location of the property. Can you offer any opinion?
Flying freeholds in Lee On The Solent 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 Lee On The Solent you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds diligently. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Lee On The Solent may ascertain 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.
Is it possible to transfer to a new conveyancer as I need to find one who is on the Skipton Building Society conveyancing panel. I had appointed a family conveyancing solicitor in Lee On The Solent five minutes from me but she is not accepted by Skipton Building Society
It would be our pleasure to help you select a conveyancing solicitor in Lee On The Solent on the Skipton Building Society panel. Please note that the law firms that we work with do not pay us fee if you instruct them and are under regulation of the Solicitors Regulation Authority who oversee all conveyancing solicitors in Lee On The Solent. In making use of the find a conveyancing solicitor tool on this website, you can compare and instruct different solicitors and conveyancers both nationally and in Lee On The Solent.