My wife and I are planning to purchase a flat in Leicester and are in fact using a Leicester conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Chelsea Building Society have this morning contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Leicester lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor 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 lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Leicester solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Do conveyancers request money up-front for conveyancing in Leicester?
If you are buying a property in Leicester your lawyer will ask you put them with funds to cover the the cost of the conveyancing searches. This will be the total of the cost of the conveyancing searches. If any deposit is payable against the total price then this will be needed immediately in advance of exchange of contracts. The final balance that is due will be payable shortly before completion.
My aunt passed away six months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the house in Leicester. The house had a relatively small loan remaining of approximately £4500. I want to have the title changed into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Leeds Building Society, pay off the mortgage. Is this possible?
Given you intend to refinance then Leeds Building Society will require that you use a conveyancer on the Leeds Building Society 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 Leeds Building Society 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 Leeds Building Society mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
How does conveyancing in Leicester differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build property in Leicester contact us having been asked by the seller to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the house is completed. This is because developers in Leicester usually buy the land, 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 property lawyers 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 Leicester or who has acted in the same development.
How simple is it to swap conveyancer as I have to select a firm on the Britannia conveyancing panel. I was using a high street conveyancing solicitor in Leicester round the corner but she is not accepted by Britannia
It would be our pleasure to assist you select a conveyancing solicitor in Leicester on the Britannia panel. Please note that the conveyancers that we list do not pay us commission if you instruct them and are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority who regulate all conveyancing solicitors in Leicester. Using search facility on this website, you can contrast costs for conveyancing solicitors in Leicester and beyond.
My partner and I have had DIP from The Mortgage Works who have advised we could borrow up to £350k. At what point do we need to appoint a practitioner for conveyancing? Leicester is where we plan to move to.
You can appoint a conveyancer now and ask them to generate a file for you. This will trigger: 1) the selling agent to issue a Sales Memorandum to the relevant parties 2) the seller’s conveyancing practitioner to submit the draft contract. That being said, do not ask your lawyer to order searches until you have your valuation report from The Mortgage Works and you are happy to proceed.