I am selling my ground floor flat in Porthcawl and the EA has just e-mailed to say that the purchasers are changing their conveyancer. The excuse is that the bank will only work with solicitors on their conveyancing panel. On what basis would a leading mortgage company only deal with specific solicitors rather the firm that they want to select to handle their conveyancing in Porthcawl ?
UK lenders have always had an approved set of law firms that can represent them, but in the last few years big names such as Santander, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have represented them for decades.
Banks blame a rise in fraud as the reason for the reduction – criteria have been tightened as a smaller panel is easier to maintain. No lender will say 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. Some do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. Your purchasers are unlikely to have any impact on this.
It is a dozen years since I acquired my home in Porthcawl. Conveyancing lawyers have now been appointed on the sale but I am unable to locate the title documents. Will this jeopardise the sale?
You need not be too concerned. Firstly the deeds may be retained by the lender or they may be archived with the conveyancers who acted in your purchase. Secondly in most cases the property will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you own the property by your conveyancing lawyers acquiring current official copies of the land registers. Almost all conveyancing in Porthcawl involves registered property but in the rare situation where your home is unregistered it adds to the complexity but is resolvable.
My friend recommended that where I am purchasing in Porthcawl I should ask my conveyancer to carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
A search of this type is sometimes quoted for as part of the standard Porthcawl conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out significant information about Porthcawl around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Porthcawl Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information about Porthcawl.
Just bought a semi-detached house in Porthcawl , how long should it take for the Land Registry to deal with the formalities evidencing my title? My Porthcawl conveyancing solicitor has been very slow, so I want to be certain the land registry aspects are dealt with.
As far as conveyancing in Porthcawl is concerned, registration is no quicker or slower than the rest of the country. As opposed to being determined by geographic area, timescales can differ subject to the party submitting the application, whether it is in order and if the Land registry have to notify any third persons or bodies. As of today approximately three quarters of submission are fully dealt with in less than three weeks but occasionally there can be protracted hold-ups. Registration takes place after the buyer has moved in to the property thus an expedited registration is not usually top priority but if it is urgent that the the registration takes place urgently then you or your solicitor must communicate with the Registry to express the reasoning for the application to be prioritised.
How does conveyancing in Porthcawl differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build residence in Porthcawl come to us having been asked by the housebuilder to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the property is built. This is because builders in Porthcawl usually 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 property lawyers 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 Porthcawl or who has acted in the same development.
Myself and my partner have just had an offer accepted on a flat and had an appointment on Tuesday with Leeds Building Society for the mortgage. They advised us that when it comes to choosing a property lawyer that if they are not on their approved list of conveyancers then we will be subject to an a further charge of £250+. This is is due to the fact that they will then have to appoint a solicitor to act on their behalf in addition to the one we appoint for ourselves and we will be on the hook for their costs. I have requested Leeds Building Society to furnish me with a list so I can obtain quotes only from their approved conveyancers but was told that I need to check with each individual conveyancer to see if they are on the panel. Is their an easier way of going about this?
Ask Leeds Building Society what their criteria for joining their panel is for a solicitor.Thereafter ask the conveyancing practitioner of your choice whether they fit that criteria and have they acted on mortgages for Leeds Building Society in the past. If the answer to those is yes, then just clarify this with Leeds Building Society. Alternatively please use our search facility and we may be able to identify a conveyancer in Porthcawl on the panel for Leeds Building Society.