I am one month into the sale of my apartment in North Woolwich and the EA has just e-mailed to warn that the purchasers are switching property lawyer. The excuse is that the mortgage company will only work with property lawyers on their approved list. Why would a leading lender only deal with certain lawyers rather the firm that they want to appoint for their conveyancing in North Woolwich ?
Banks have always had panels of law firms they are content to work with, but in recent years big names such as Yorkshire Building Society, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have acted for them for more than 15 years.
Lenders point to the increase in fraud as the reason for the reduction – criteria have been stiffened as a smaller panel is easier to keep an eye on. Banks tend not to reveal how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is hearing daily from firms that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms are unaware that 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 unlikely to have any sway in the decision.
Me and my partner are buying a flat in North Woolwich. I might seem paranoid but how we can trust a solicitor? At some point we will need to deposit our life savings into their account. What is the protection we have from them run away with our deposit?
Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.
We had instructed conveyancers with offices in North Woolwich on the Kent Reliance solicitor panel. They are now charging me a supplemental fee for handling the Kent Reliance mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee specified by Kent Reliance?
Provided it is contained in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your lawyer may levy a fee for this. This fee is not set by Kent Reliance but by your North Woolwich solicitor. Plenty of firms on the Kent Reliance panel will quote ’dealing with mortgage’ fee but some practices include it on their overall fee.
We were going to get a DIP from Virgin Money this week so we can work out what to offer on a property we like as otherwise we only have online calculators to go by (which aren't taking into account credit checks etc). Do Virgin Money recommend any North Woolwich solicitors on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel, or is it better to find our own lawyer?
You will need to appoint North Woolwich solicitors independently although you'll need to choose one on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel. The solicitor represents both you and Virgin Money through the process.
I bought my home on 14 August and the transaction details are still not on the land registry website. Need I be worried? My conveyancing solicitor in North Woolwich said it will be recorded in a couple of weeks. Are titles in North Woolwich uniquely lengthy to register?
There is nothing unique about conveyancing in North Woolwich registration formalities. As opposed to being determined by geographic area, timescales can differ according to the party submitting the application, whether there are errors and if the Land registry communicate with any interested persons or bodies. At present approximately 80% of submission are fully addressed in less than three weeks but occasionally there can be protracted hold-ups. Historically registration takes place once the new owner has moved in to the premises thus post completion formalities is not usually an essential issue yet if it is urgent that the the registration takes place urgently then you or your solicitor could speak with the land registry and explain the circumstances.
As co-executor for the estate of my aunt I am disposing of a residence in Cardiff but reside in North Woolwich. My conveyancer (who is 200 kilometers from mehas requested that I execute a statutory declaration before the transaction finalising. Can you recommend a conveyancing lawyer in North Woolwich who can witness this legal document for me?
strictly speaking you should not be required to have the documents witnessed by a conveyancing solicitor. Ordinarily any notary public or qualified solicitor will do regardless of whether they are located in North Woolwich
Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my garden apartment in North Woolwich. Conveyancing has not commenced, but I have just had a half-yearly maintenance charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?
It best that you discharge the service charge as you normally would given that all rents and service invoices should be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the purchaser for the period running from after the completion date to the subsequent invoice date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.
I am the proprietor of a basement flat in North Woolwich. In the absence of agreement between myself and the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the amount payable for a lease extension?
in cases where there is a absentee landlord or where there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the LVT to decide the premium.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a North Woolwich flat is 46 Credon Road in January 2014. On 11 September 2013 Deputy District Judge Price sitting at the Bow County Court made a vesting order that the freeholder surrender his lease and be granted a new lease of the Premises on such terms as may be determined by the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber).The appropriate sum as concluded by the Tribunal was £7225 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 69.77 years.
The property lawyers undertaking our conveyancing in North Woolwich has forwarded documents to review that indicate that the land is unregistered with epitome documents. How can it be that the property not registred at HMLR?
Over ninety percent of property in North Woolwich is registered. An 'epitome' is basically a dossier of photocopies of documents affecting an unregistered title. Many North Woolwich conveyancing lawyers will be able to handle this type of conveyancing but where uncertainty exists the conventional guidance these days is for the seller to address the registration formalities first and then deal with the transfer to the buyer - this this chain of events will cause a significant delay.