My husband and I are hoping to buy a house in Newhaven and have appointed a Newhaven conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. The Royal Bank of Scotland have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Newhaven solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent 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 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 Newhaven solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
I have given 8 weeks notice to my existing landlord and must vacate my rented apartment in Newhaven by the end of next month. Conveyancing on my purchase is progressing. Is it possible to complete in six weeks as don't want to have to find short term accommodation?
It is unwise to give notice on a rental unless you have exchanged. If you have not already done so, notify to your conveyancer and request that they chase the sellers lawyers, try to a target completion date that all parties will look to achieve
How up to date is your database of Newhaven solicitors on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel? Do Bank of Ireland send you an updated list?
Newhaven conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Bank of Ireland directly.
My bank has suggested a law firm on their panel based in Newhaven but I would rather instruct a conveyancing lawyer in Newhaven or nearer to where I live. Can you help?
Not all Newhaven conveyancing practices are approved and listed on all banks conveyancing panel. Use our find an approved solicitor tool to locate a Newhaven conveyancing conveyancer on the on the lender panel.
Is it the case that all Newhaven CQS (Conveyancing Quality Scheme) solicitors are on the Nationwide conveyancing panel?
Some major banks and building societies now utilise CQS as the kick off point for Panel approval such as HSBC and Santander. CQS membership however is no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. Nevertheless,the Council of Mortgage Lenders have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for solicitors wishing to remain on their approved list of firms.
I recently had an offer accepted on a house in Newhaven. My financial adviser recommended their conveyancers. I paid an on account payment of £175. Not long after, the conveyancing practitioner contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the UBS 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 UBS 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.
After shopping around on the internet I have found a Newhaven property lawyer having checked that they are on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
Leeds Building Society will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Leeds Building Society will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. Your conveyancing practitioner will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by your Newhaven postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with Leeds Building Society, you could contact them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors in Newhaven.
I am employed by a long established estate agency in Newhaven where we see a few leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Newhaven conveyancing firms. Please can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the buyer?
As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.
Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.
Newhaven Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Queries Prior to Purchasing
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In the main the cost for major works are not included within service charges, albeit that some managing agents in Newhaven obliged leasehold owners to contribute towards a sinking fund and this is used to offset against major works. The prefered form of lease structure is if the freehold interest is owned by the leaseholders. In this situation the leaseholders enjoy being in charge if their destiny and notwithstanding that a managing agent is frequently retained where it is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves. Best to be warned if fixing the lift or some other significant cost is due shortly that will be shared by the leasehold owners and will materially increase the the maintenance charges or result in a one time payment.