My partner and I are hoping to acquire a property in Queensbury and are in fact using a Queensbury conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. The Royal Bank of Scotland have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Queensbury conveyancer 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 conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the purchaser's lender. 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 bank 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 as you are at liberty to use your preferred Queensbury lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
I require conveyancing for an apartment in a fairly new development (five years old) in Queensbury. 95% of the properties are already occupied. Do I need carry out the conveyancing searches for my conveyancing in Queensbury?
Where you are obtaining a mortgage, your lender will insist on some (many) of the searches so you'll have no choice. If not, then Queensbury conveyancing searches are optional. No doubt your conveyancer, will ’encourage’, perhaps strongly, that you should have the searches done, but he or she has a professional duty to do this. One thing to bear in mind; if you are likely to sell the house one day, it may be of interest to your future buyer what the searches contain. Sometimes houses with no practical issues can still throw up adverse search results. But if you choose to instruct your lawyer to proceed without searches then your lawyer will have to follow your instructions or it may be necessary to instruct a new lawyer for your conveyancing in Queensbury.
There are plenty of conveyancing solicitors in Queensbury but how do I know who I should use?
Do not opt for the cheapest Queensbury conveyancing costs illustration. You really do get what you pay for when it comes to property lawyers. A cheap quote may mean that the conveyancing solicitor is handling a lot of jobs at one time and you won’t get the quality of service and the attention that you need. It is, however, wise to use a conveyancer who has a fixed fee on a no sale, no fee basis. This way, you know exactly what you’ll have to pay in ahead of time.
I am currently in the process of buying my council flat in Queensbury. I have a mortgage agreed with Santander. 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 Santander, you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Santander conveyancing panel.
I recently had an offer accepted on a house in Queensbury. My mortgage broker suggested a conveyancer. I paid an on account payment of £150. Soon after, the lawyer called me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the RBS conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the RBS panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
I used Arc property Solicitors several years ago for my conveyancing in Queensbury. I now require my papers but the law firm is no longer operating. What do I do?
You should contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to assist in tracking down 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 Queensbury of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously retained, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
We're new to the buying process - had an offer accepted, but the estate agent has warned us that the vendor will only issue a contract if we appoint the agent's chosen lawyers as they want an ‘expedited deal’. Our preferred option is to instruct a local solicitor with experience of conveyancing in Queensbury
It is highly unlikely the sellers are behind this. If they desire ‘a quick sale', taking such a hostile approach to a serious purchaser is not the way to achieve this. Contact the owners directly and explain that (a)you are motivated buyers (b)you are excited to move forward, with finances in place © you do not need to sell (d) you intend to proceed fast (e)but you are going to appoint your preferred Queensbury conveyancing firm - not the ones that will provide their estate agent a kickback or meet his conveyancing thresholds demanded by head office.
How do I search for a Queensbury conveyancing solicitor on the lender conveyancing panel? I have a car and am prepared to travel up to 25miles to attend the lawyer.
Feel free to make use of the find a conveyancing panel tool on this page. Please choose the lender and your location, in this case Queensbury and you will see a number of lawyer located nearest Queensbury. Alternatively you can type in the name of your proposed law firm and see if they are listed as being on the mortgage company solicitor panel.