My wife and I are hoping to buy a house in Par and are in fact using a Par conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Chelsea Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Par lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent 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 Quality 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Par solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
We just had an offer accepted to purchase with Norwich and Peterborough Building Society. We have called around locally but am unable to find a Par conveyancing firm on the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society approved list. Please you assist?
Please do make use of the find a lender approved solicitor tool on this site. Please choose the lender and type Par or your location and you will see a number of lawyer based in Par or by proximity to you.
I am assisting my sister sell her property in Par. Will the conveyancer order the energy assessment or do I organise this?
Following the abolition of Home Information Packs, energy assessments was maintained a compulsory element of moving house. An energy assessment should be commissioned before the property is advertised. This is not a task that law firms ordinarily arrange. Where you are instructing a Par conveyancing practitioner they might help arrange EPC’s due to their relationships with reputable Par assessors
Are all Par Conveyancing Quality Solicitors on the Barclays conveyancing list of approved practices?
A selection of banks and building societies now use the accreditation scheme as the starting point for Panel membership such as HSBC and Santander. The Law Society’s CQS accreditation however gives no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. That being said,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 am selling my apartment. I had a double glazing fitted in June 2007, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My purchaser’s mortgage company, Co-operative are being problematic. The Par solicitor who is on the Co-operative conveyancing panel is recommending indemnity insurance as a solution but Co-operative are requiring a building regulation certificate. Why do Co-operative have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?
It is probably the case that Co-operative have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why Co-operative may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing was correctly and safely installed. The indemnity insurance merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.
How does conveyancing in Par differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build property in Par contact us having been asked by the builder to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the residence is finished. This is because developers in Par tend to buy the real estate, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancing solicitors as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are used to new build conveyancing in Par or who has acted in the same development.
I opted to have a survey carried out on a house in Par prior to instructing conveyancers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold overhang to the property. My surveyor has said that some lenders will not give a mortgage on a flying freehold property.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Bank of Scotland has different requirements for example to Nationwide. Should you wish to call us we can check via the relevant lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Par. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.
My husband and I are FTB’s - agreed a price, but the estate agent informed us that the owners will only go ahead if we use the agent's preferred conveyancers as they are insisting on an ‘expedited deal’. We would rather use a local solicitor used to conveyancing in Par
We suspect that the owner is not behind this demand. Should the owner require ‘a quick sale', taking such a hostile approach to a motivated buyer is not the way to achieve this. Contact the sellers directly and explain that (a)you are serious buyers (b)you are ready to progress, with mortgage lined up © you have nothing to sell (d) you wish to move quickly (e)but you intend to appoint your preferred Par conveyancing lawyers - not the ones that will earn the estate agent a referral fee or achieve conveyancing figures set by senior management.