My wife and I are hoping to acquire a flat in North Sheen and are in fact using a North Sheen conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Platform Home Loans Ltd have this evening contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our North Sheen solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is conventional 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor 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 solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred North Sheen lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
I am approaching an exchange on a flat in North Sheen and my mum and dad have transferred the 10% deposit to my property lawyer. I am now advised that as the deposit has been received from someone other than me my solicitor needs to make a notification to my mortgage company. I am advised that, in also acting for the bank he must inform them that the balance of the purchase price is coming from anyone other than me. I informed the lender about my parents' contribution when I applied for the home loan, so is it really appropriate for him to raise this?
Your property lawyer is legally required to check with the bank to make sure that they know that the balance of the purchase price is not from your own resources. The solicitor can only notify this to your lender if you permit them to, failing which, your lawyer must cease to continue acting.
When does exchange of contracts occur in purchase conveyancing in North Sheen and am I required to attend the lawyers office?
Where you are round the corner to our conveyancing solicitors in North Sheen you are welcome to attend to sign contracts. However, the lender approved solicitors we recommend provide a nationwide conveyancing service and give just as detailed and professional a job for you when dealing with you digitally. The executing of the sale agreement is not the important part. Signing on the dotted line is necessary for the solicitor to address the formalities at the suitable time, which will usually be very shortly after signing. The procedure 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 North Sheen)to be in the office available at the end of the phone to exchange contracts.
We wish to acquire a 3 bedroom apartment in North Sheen with a homeloan from Britannia.We have a North Sheen conveyancing practitioner but Britannia advised that her practice is not on their "panel". We have to appoint a Britannia panel lawyer or retain our high street solicitor and fork out for a Britannia panel lawyer to represent them. We feel as though this is unjust; Can we not simply insist that Britannia use our lawyer?
No, not really. The mortgage issued to you is subject to its terms and conditions, a common one being that conveyancers needs to be on the Britannia approved list. Until recently, most banks had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could find one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your solicitors to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Britannia
I have been told that property searches are a common reason for delay in North Sheen conveyancing transactions. Is there any truth in this?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) has noted the conclusions of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature amongst the top 10 causes of delays in the conveyancing process. Local searches are not likely to feature in any holding up conveyancing in North Sheen.
I have recentlyfound out that Action Conveyancing have closed. They carried out my conveyancing in North Sheen for a purchase of a freehold house 10 months ago. How can I establish that my home is in my name in the name of the former proprietor?
The easiest method to see if the property is registered to you, you can carry out a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of North Sheen conveyancing specialists.