My partner and I are planning to buy a home in Nettleham and have instructed a Nettleham conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Birmingham Midshires have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Nettleham lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
If you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' solicitors 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 property lawyer 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 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 Nettleham solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
What happens if my solicitor is removed from the UBS Solicitor panel ahead of completing my conveyancing in Nettleham?
First, this is a very rare occurrence. 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 for a fee.
I am buying a detached bungalow in Nettleham. Our aim is to convert the garage to an office at the house.Will the conveyancing process include checks to see if these alterations are allowed?
Your conveyancer should review the deeds as conveyancing in Nettleham can sometimes reveal restrictions in the title deeds which prevent categories of works or require the consent of another owner. Some extensions require local authority planning permissions and approval in accordance building regulations. Certain areas are designated conservation areas and special planning restrictions apply which frequently prevent or impact extensions. It would be sensible to check these things with a surveyor ahead of any purchase.
My wife and I are in the process of viewing houses in Nettleham and I am now considering a potential offer. Is it sensible to have my property lawyer on ‘stand by’? I will be getting a mortgage with Nationwide.
It would be prudent to start your search sooner rather than later. Once you decide who you want to use and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and pass their details on to the selling agent. Given that you are taking out a mortgage with Nationwide, make sure you remember to check that your lawyer is on the Nationwide conveyancing panel.
At last I have had an offer on an apartment in Nettleham accepted, the vendors do however have a dependent purchase. The vendors have offered on on an apartment, but it’s not yet tied up, and are looking at other apartments in the pipeline. I have selected a nearby conveyancing solicitor in Nettleham. What do I do now? At what stage do I apply for the mortgage with Barclays?
It is normal to have concerns where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to incur costs prematurely (mortgage application is in the region of £1k, then valuation, Nettleham conveyancing search charges, etc). First, you must ensure that your conveyancing practitioner is on the Barclays conveyancing panel. Regarding the subsequent steps this very much dictated by the circumstances of your transaction, motivation for this property and on the state of the market. During a hot market some buyers will apply for the mortgage with Barclays and pay for the valuation and only if it was satisfactory would they pay their property lawyer to press on with searches.
I decided to have a survey completed on a house in Nettleham ahead of retaining conveyancers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold aspect to the property. The surveyor has said that some banks will refuse to grant a loan on this type of house.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Bank of Scotland has different instructions from Halifax. If you call us we can check via the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Nettleham. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Nettleham to see if the conveyancing costs will increase in light of this.
I am 17 days into a leasehold purchase having been recommend to conveyancers by the local agent to perform conveyancing in Nettleham. We are not happy. Can you help me find new lawyers?
They would have to be really bad in order to consider diss instructing them. Has your mortgage offer been sent? If so you need to advise them of the new conveyancer and get the offer are re-issued. Your solicitor ideally needs to be on the banks panel to avoid escalating charges and frustration. That should be your starting point. Our find a solicitor tool should help you find a bank approved lawyer for your home move in Nettleham
Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Nettleham with the intention of saving time on the sale process?
- Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Nettleham can be bypassed if you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers. You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but you should double-check via your lawyers. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is less than 75 years. It is therefore important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale. If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a property where a dispute is ongoing. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to ongoing. A minority of Nettleham leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is able to meet the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors.
Nettleham Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should consider Prior to buying
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How much is the ground rent and service charge? Best to be warned if redecorating or some other significant cost is pending that will be shared between the tenants and will dramatically impact the level of the service fees or necessitate a specific payment.