I am selling my ground floor flat in Peckham and the estate agent has just telephoned to say that the purchasers are changing their solicitor. The excuse is that the mortgage company will only deal with property lawyers on their approved list. On what basis would a major mortgage company only deal with certain lawyers rather the firm that they want to select for their conveyancing in Peckham ?
Banks have always had an approved set of law firms that can act for them, but in recent years big names such as Nationwide, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have represented them for over 25 years.
Lenders blame a rise in fraud by way of justification for the pruning – criteria have been narrowed as a smaller panel is easier to oversee. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is being contacted daily by practices 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 buyers are unlikely to have any impact on this.
Can conveyancing in Peckham to be concluded in under a month?
In the event that you are under pressure to sign contracts it is highly recommended that your lawyer is familiar with the location as they will have local relationships and intelligence. It is even conceivable that they could have conducted otherhouses in the same road. You would be best advised to use a Peckham conveyancing solicitor. In addition, ensure that the conveyancing firm is on the on the approved list for your mortgage company. It is understood that 18% of Peckham conveyancing transactions are delayed or jeopardised after discovering a buyer’s conveyancer was not on their mortgage lender’s list of approved solicitors. This can often result in the home move being delayed by as much as 21 days. It is understood that this issue impacts approximately 100,000 home moves annually. Almost all Peckham conveyancing practices can not act for certain mortgage companies so do check as early as possible.
Will my lawyer be asking questions regarding flooding during the conveyancing in Peckham.
Flooding is a growing risk for solicitors carrying out conveyancing in Peckham. There are those who buy a property in Peckham, fully expectant that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. However, leaving to one side the physical destruction, where a house is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to obtain a mortgage, adequate insurance cover, or dispose of the premises. There are steps that can be taken as part of the conveyancing process to forewarn the purchaser.
Solicitors are not best placed to impart advice on flood risk, but there are a number of searches that can be undertaken by the purchaser or on a buyer’s behalf which should figure out the risks in Peckham. The conventional set of completed inquiry forms sent to a buyer’s conveyancer (where the Conveyancing Protocol is adopted) incorporates a standard inquiry of the vendor to determine if the premises has suffered from flooding. In the event that the property has been flooded in past and is not notified by the vendor, then a purchaser may commence a legal claim for losses as a result of such an inaccurate response. The purchaser’s solicitors should also commission an enviro search. This will indicate whether there is any known flood risk. If so, more detailed inquiries should be conducted.
The deeds to our house can not be found. The solicitors who conducted the conveyancing in Peckham 4 years ago no longer exist. What are my options?
Gone are the days when you need to have the physical deeds to establish that you are the owner of your registered land or premises, as the Land Registry hold details of all registered land or property electronically.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £305k and identified one near me in Peckham I like with open areas and station nearby, however it's only got 52 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Peckham in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a lease with such few years left?
Should you need a home loan the shortness of the lease may be problematic. Reduce the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for at least 2 years you may ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer about this.
My husband and I are 3 weeks into a freehold purchase having been recommend to a firm by the selling agent to do our conveyancing in Peckham. I am am starting to be frustrated with the quality of service. Can you help me find new solicitors?
They would have to be really poor in order to consider changing them. Has the mortgage been sent? If so you must make them aware of the new contact details and have the mortgage documents are re-sent. Your solicitor ideally needs to be on the mortgage company panel to avoid escalating costs and delays. That should be your starting point. The find a solicitor tool will assist you in finding a lender approved conveyancer for your home move in Peckham