I am selling my ground floor flat in Portsmouth and the EA has just telephoned to say that the buyers are switching law firm. The reason given is that the bank will only deal with solicitors on their approved list. Why would a major lender only work with certain lawyers rather the firm that they want to appoint for their conveyancing in Portsmouth ?
Mortgage companies have always had an approved set of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the past few years big names such as Nationwide, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have acted for them for over 25 years.
Lenders attribute this action to a rise in fraud as the reason for the cull – criteria have been narrowed as a smaller panel is easier to maintain. Banks tend not to disclose how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms 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 buyers are not going to have any sway in the decision.
My partner and I intend to remortgage our flat in Portsmouth with Santander. We have a son 18 who lives with us. Our solicitor requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who reside at the property. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the property is forfeited by the lender. I have two questions (1) Is this form unique to the Santander conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we purchased 4 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your Santander conveyancing panel solicitor is doing the right thing as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to Santander. This is solely used to protect Santander if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave. It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of Santander had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.
At what point does exchange of contracts happen for residential conveyancing in Portsmouth and am I required to be at the solicitors branch?
Where you are near to one of the conveyancing solicitors in Portsmouth you are invited in to sign contracts. However, the firms we recommend offer countrywide coverage for conveyancing and give just as diligent and professional a job for you when communicating with you by post or email. The signing of the contract is not when everything is set in stone. Signing on the dotted line is just a prerequisite for the conveyancer to address the formalities at the appropriate time, which is ordinarily shortly after signing. The procedure is nowadays normally dealt with by telephone and can be very rapid, although where a long "chain" is in play, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Portsmouth)to be in the office available at the end of the phone to exchange contracts.
The Portsmouth conveyancing solicitors that I recently instructed on my house acquisition in Portsmouth have without warning closed. I chose them because I had to have a solicitor on the Nottingham conveyancing panel and my previous Portsmouth lawyer was not. I issued them a cheque for two hundred pounds in advance. What are my options?
Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then let them know straight away so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Most sellers would 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 Nottingham 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 lawyers should be in a position to assist.
What does commercial conveyancing in Portsmouth cover?
Commercial conveyancing in Portsmouth incorporates a broad range of services, provided by regulated solicitors, relating to business premises. By way of example, this area of conveyancing can cover the sale or purchase of freehold business premises or, more commonly, the assignment of existing leases or the drafting of new leasing arrangements. Commercial conveyancing solicitors can also offer advice on the sale of business assets, commercial loans and the termination of tenancies.
For various reasons I cannot be present at my Portsmouth conveyancing practitioners office to sign documents connected to my conveyancing in Portsmouth – will this be problematic?
No. Portsmouth conveyancing solicitors can undertake conveyancing transactions for clients from a distance. You are unlikely to be required to visit a Portsmouth conveyancers office. They can undertake all communications using post, email, telephone and fax.