My partner and I are looking to buy a house in Penarth and have instructed a Penarth conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. TSB have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Penarth lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' solicitors 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 Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer 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 Penarth solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
Is there a reason why leasehold purchase conveyancing in Penarth costs more?
Penarth leasehold conveyancing transactions usually involve additional investigations than freeholds including investigating the Lease, liaising with the Landlord such as serving applicable notices on the Landlord or managing agent, obtaining up-to-date service charge and management information, obtaining Landlord’s consents and reviewing management accounts and formation documents.
The Penarth conveyancing lawyers that I recently instructed on my purchase in Penarth have suddenly closed. I only went with them because I needed a firm on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel and my family Penarth lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take one hundred and fifty pounds for searches. What should be my next steps?
If you have an estate agent involved then inform them immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors may be able to help.
I'm the only recipient of my late mum's estate with all property in now in my sole name, including the my former home in Penarth. The Penarth property was put into my name in April. I now wish to sell up. I understand that there is a CML 6 month 'rule', which means that my proprietorship could be regarded the same way as if I'd bought the property in April. Do I have to wait 6 months to sell?
The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ handbook instructs solicitors to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you could be impacted by that. many banks would take a practical view as this clause is principally there to pick up on the purchase and immediately sell or the quick reselling of property.
We have a mortgage agreed in principle with Principality. Penarth conveyancing solicitors are chosen. What is the average time that one could expect to receive a mortgage offer from Principality?
There is no definitive answer here. Have Principality done the valuation? Have you informed Principality as to your lawyers' details and checked that your lawyers are on the Principality conveyancing panel? It is not unusual for a mortgage offer to take a month to come through.
I have decided to exercise my right to buy my property in Penarth off the council. I have a mortgage offer with Skipton. Conveyancing is new to me. Can I proceed without a solicitor easily? I think we can but we keep being told I should use one. Any advice?
It is not advisable to proceed with a house purchase without a solicitor. The council's solicitor are not acting for you. You need a solicitor for a number reasons. One of which is to verify what plans the Council have for repairs and refurbishment for the next five years. Many leaseholders have been stung for contributions of thousands of pounds. In any event, if you are getting a mortgage with Skipton, you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Skipton conveyancing panel.
Due to the input of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Penarth prior to retaining solicitors. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold overhang to the property. Our surveyor has said that some banks will not grant a mortgage on a flying freehold premises.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Bank of Scotland has different requirements for example to Nationwide. If you e-mail us we can look into this further via the appropriate mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Penarth. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Penarth especially if they are familiar with such properties in Penarth.
We are 3 weeks into a residential purchase having been directed to a firm by the estate agent to handle our conveyancing in Penarth. I am am very disappointed with the level of service. Can you help me find new solicitors?
A conveyancer would need to be really poor in order to consider diss instructing them. Has the loan offer been sent? In the event that it has you will need to make them aware of the new solicitor and ensure the mortgage documents are issued to the new lawyers. Your solicitor ideally should be on the mortgage company approved list to avoid escalating charges and frustration. That should be your first question of the new conveyancers. The search tool will help you find a bank approved solicitor for your home move in Penarth