I am selling my house in Molesey and the estate agent has just text me to warn that the buyers are swapping law firm. I am told that this is due to the fact that the mortgage company will only work with property lawyers on their conveyancing panel. On what basis would a leading lender only work with certain lawyers rather the firm that they want to select to handle their conveyancing in Molesey ?
Banks have always had an approved set of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the past few years big names such as Nationwide, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for decades.
Banks point to the increase in fraud as the reason for the reduction – criteria have been stiffened as a smaller panel is easier to monitor. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Some do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. The purchasers are not going to have any sway in the decision.
We wanted to use a conveyancing solicitor in Molesey for our house purchase. Our financial adviser has since advised us that our mortgage lenders Bank of Ireland won't deal with them. Why is this not regarded as unduly restrictive?
Mortgage Companies ordinarily restrict either the category or the number of conveyancing solicitors on their member panel. A common example of such criteria being that a law practice must not be a sole practitioner. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some have reduced the amount of solicitor practices they permit to act for them. You should note that Bank of Ireland have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any member of Bank of Ireland Conveyancer Panel. Mortgage fraud was a primary driver in the reduction of conveyancing panels since 2008 even though there are differing opinions concerning the level of solicitor engagement in some of that fraud. Data from the Land Registry reveal that plenty of law firms, including some in or near Molesey only conduct one or two conveyances per annum.
The deeds to my house can not be found. The lawyers who conducted the conveyancing in Molesey 4 years ago are no longer around. Will I be able to sell the house?
Gone are the days when you need to hold title deeds to prove you are the registered proprietor of land or premises, given that the Land Registry hold details of all registered land or property electronically.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £235,500 and identified one near me in Molesey I like with open areas and railway links nearby, the downside is that it's only got 61 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Molesey in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a lease with such few years left?
Should you require a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term will likely be a potential deal breaker. Discount the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing owner has owned the premises for at least twenty four months you could ask them to start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor concerning this.
Should I use a Molesey conveyancing practitioner in close proximity to the house I am purchasing? An old friend can handle the legal work however they are based a couple of hundredmiles away.
The primary upside of using a local Molesey conveyancing practice is that you can attend the office to sign documents, present your ID and apply pressure on them if necessary. Having local Molesey know how is a bonus. However nothing is more important than finding someone that will do a good and efficient job. If if people you trust used your friend and on the whole were happy that must outweigh using an unknown Molesey conveyancing lawyer solely due to them being local.
Are there any apps to help search for a Molesey conveyancing solicitor on the bank conveyancing panel? I have a car and am prepared to travel up to 20miles to attend the solicitor.
Feel free to make use of the find a conveyancing panel search on this page. Please choose the lender and your location, in this case Molesey and you will see a number of lawyer located nearest Molesey. Alternatively you can type in the name of your proposed law firm and see if they are listed as being on the bank solicitor panel.