I am acquiring an apartment in Longlands. My Conveyancer is not listed on the lender approved panel. Can I still retain my Longlands conveyancing solicitor notwithstanding that they are excluded from the mortgage company panel of approved conveyancing solicitors?
You have numerous options available to you here
- Complete the purchase with your existing Longlands solicitor but your bank will need to appoint a conveyancing practitioner on their approved panel. The net result is additional fees together with potential frustration.
- Appoint a new conveyancer to act in the purchase, obviously checking they are on the mortgage company conveyancing panel.
- Appeal to your solicitor to seek to join the lender panel
When can the exchange of contracts take place for sale conveyancing in Longlands and do I need to attend the solicitors branch?
Where you are near to our conveyancing solicitors in Longlands you are welcome to attend to sign contracts. That being said, the lender approved solicitors we recommend provide a countrywide conveyancing service and give just as diligent and professional a job for you when communicating with you by post or email. The signing of the contract is not the critical part. A signed contract is necessary for the solicitor to exchange contracts when the time is right, which will usually be very shortly after signing. The exchange process is nowadays normally dealt with by telephone and can be very rapid, although where an extended "chain" is in play, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Longlands)to be in the office available at the end of the phone to exchange contracts.
Do I have to visit the offices of the solicitor to execute the legal charge? If so, I will instruct a firm who offer conveyancing in Longlands so that I can attend their offices if necessary.
These days approved lawyers for mortgage companies carry out all of the work via Royal Mail, internet or over phone calls. This means that they can undertake the conveyancing transaction no matter where you live in the country. However you can check if you have the option of attending the offices of your conveyancing lawyer if you prefer.
I am downsizing from our house in Longlands and the buyers lawyers are claiming that there is a risk of it being built on contaminated land. Any high street Longlands conveyancer would know this is not the case. It does beg the question why the purchasers are using a factory type conveyancing practice rather than a conveyancing solicitor in Longlands. We have lived in Longlands for 5 years we know that this is a non issue. Do we get in touch with our local Authority to obtain confirmation that the buyers are looking for.
It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing lawyer already. What do they say? You need to enquire of your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out health insurance to cover that same sickness)
Due to the encouragement of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Longlands before instructing lawyers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold element to the house. Our surveyor advised that some mortgage companies will refuse to issue a mortgage on such a premises.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Lloyds has different instructions for example to Birmingham Midshires. Should you wish to call us we can investigate further 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 Longlands. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.
Myself and my partner have just had an offer accepted on a house and had meeting on Wednesday with the Post Office for the mortgage. They have informed us that when it comes to appointing a property lawyer that if they are not on their approved list of conveyancing practitioners then we will incur a further fee of about two hundred pounds. This is is due to the fact that they will then have to instruct a conveyancer to act on their behalf in addition to the one we appoint for ourselves and we assume responsibility for their costs. I have requested the Post Office to provide me with a list so I can seek quotes only from their approved lawyers but was told they dont have such a list to hand over. Is there a simple way of finding out who is on a lender panel?
You can enquire of the Post Office what their criteria for panel membership is for a solicitor.Thereafter ask the conveyancing practitioner of your choice whether they meet the criteria and have they acted on mortgages for the Post Office in the past. Where the answer to those is yes, then just clarify this with the Post Office. Alternatively please use our search tool and we may be able to identify a lawyer in Longlands on the panel for the Post Office.