My fiance and I are looking to buy a property in Middleton and have appointed a Middleton conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Accord Mortgages Ltd have this morning contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Middleton lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
If you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for 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 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Middleton lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
My lawyer has discovered a a problem with the lease for the flat we are purchasing in Middleton. The other side have put forward title insurance as a solution. We are content with insurance and will pay for it. Our property lawyer has advised that he must check that the lender is happy with this solution. Are we the client or is the bank?
Notwithstanding that you have a mortgage offer from the bank does not mean to say that the property will meet their conditions for the purposes of a mortgage. Your lawyer has to ensure that the lease has to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions. You and the mortgage company are the client. These conveyancing instructions have to be complied with.
Will lawyers request money up-front for my conveyancing in Middleton?
Where you are retaining lawyers for conveyancing in Middleton your solicitor will request that you place them with funds to cover the search fees. This will be the total of the cost of the conveyancing searches. If any down payment is as part of the purchase price then this will be required immediately in advance of contracts are exchanged. Any further balance that is due should be sent to your lawyer shortly before completion.
My Solicitor in Middleton is not listed on the Barclays Direct Approved Panel. Can I still continue with my prefered solicitor even though they are not on the Barclays Direct list of approved lawyers?
Your options are as follows:
- Carry on with your preferred Middleton lawyers but Barclays Direct will need to retain a solicitor on their panel. This will inevitably rack up the overall conveyancing fees and cause delays.
- Find an alternative lawyer to to deal with the purchase, remembering to check they are Barclays Direct approved.
- Try to convince your Barclays Direct solicitor to try to join the Barclays Direct panel
A colleague informed me that in buying a property in Middleton there may be various restrictions prohibiting external changes to the property. Is this right?
There are a number of properties in Middleton which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to perform external alterations. Part of the conveyancing in Middleton should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.
We have agreed to purchase a house in Middleton. An unusual aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Virgin Money have issued a mortgage offer so presumably this is not a concern to them. Why is my solicitor raising questions about the panel?
Given that your lender is Virgin Money your lawyer must follow the formal instructions outlined in Section 2 of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Virgin Money. The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook includes minimum provisions for solar panel roof-space leases, and property lawyers are required to report to Virgin Money where a lease does not satisfy these provisions. The provisions relate to the installation of panels on properties in England and Wales and is not restricted to Middleton.
After much negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Middleton. My mortgage broker suggested a property lawyer. I paid an advanced payment of £150. A few days later, the solicitor contacted me to say that they were not on the Barclays conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Barclays panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
I am looking for a conveyancing lawyer in Middleton for my sale. Is it possible to see a firm’s record with the profession’s regulator?
Anyone may find presented Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) decisions arising from inquisitions from 2008 onwards. Go to Check a solicitor's record. To find details about the period before 1 January 2008, or to check a solicitors history, call 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 any week day save for Tuesday when lines open at 9.30am. International callers, call +44 (0)121 329 6800. The SRA sometimes monitor telephone calls for training reasons.