My husband and I are hoping to acquire a flat in Parson Cross and have appointed a Parson Cross conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Chelsea Building Society have this evening contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Parson Cross solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
If you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is normal 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 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 bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Parson Cross solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
What does a local search inform me concerning the property we're buying in Parson Cross?
Parson Cross conveyancing often commences with the submitting local authority searches directly from your local Authority or through a personal search company for example PSG The local search is essential in every Parson Cross conveyancing purchase; as long as you wish to avoid any nasty once you have moved into your property. The search should reveal data on, amongst other things, details on planning applications applicable to the property (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of thirteen topic sections.
I used Wolstenholmes a few years ago for my conveyancing in Parson Cross. I now require my file however cannot find the solicitor. What do I do?
You should call the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Parson Cross of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously instructed, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
I am looking for a ground for flat up to £195,000 and identified one near me in Parson Cross I like with amenity areas and station nearby, however it's only got 61 years on the lease. There is not much else in Parson Cross for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error buying a short lease?
If you require a mortgage that many years may be an issue. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you may request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer about this matter.
I was advised by a number of estate agents in Parson Cross to choose a solicitor using your seach tool. What’s the financial incentive for Estate Agents to offer your lawyers over and above a competitor’s?
We don’t offer any referral fee for sending work our way. We found it would be just too difficult a fee because members of the public would think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I receiving any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.
We're FTB’s - had an offer accepted, but the selling agent told us that the seller will only proceed if we instruct their chosen conveyancers as they are insisting on a ‘quick sale’. My instinct tells me that we should use a family conveyancer used to conveyancing in Parson Cross
It is unlikely the sellers are behind this. Should the owner want ‘a quick sale', alienating a genuine purchaser is is going to put the whole deal at risk. Avoid the agents and go straight to the sellers and explain that (a)you are keen to buy (b)you are excited to move forward, with mortgage lined up © you are unencumbered (d) you intend to proceed fast (e)however you will continue to appoint your own,trusted Parson Cross conveyancing lawyers - not the ones that will earn the negotiator at the agency a kickback or meet his conveyancing thresholds set by HQ.