Please help. My Raynes Park lawyer is advising me that he is legally obliged toorder Raynes Park conveyancing searches stemming from the fact thatthe firm are on the Santanderconveyancing panel. Do I not have any say here?
You have limited options available to you. Given that you are taking out a loan with a mortgage company your conveyancing practitioner has to comply with their conditions as set out in their version of the CML Conveyancing Handbook. Your conveyancing practitioner would have previously signed the Terms and Conditions of your bank’s conveyancing panel appointment which obliges them to follow the CML Handbook provisions . Even if you were a cash buyer you would be ill advised not to carry out Raynes Park conveyancing searches.
The Raynes Park conveyancing lawyers that just started acting on my purchase in Raynes Park have without warning closed. I chose them because I had to have a firm on the Nationwide conveyancing panel and my preferred Raynes Park lawyer was not. I paid them £170 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 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 will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Nationwide 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 should be in a position to assist.
What can a local search reveal concerning the property my wife and I purchasing in Raynes Park?
Raynes Park conveyancing often starts with the ordering local authority searches directly from your local Authority or through a personal search organisations such as Onsearch The local search is essential in every Raynes Park conveyancing purchase; that is if you wish to avoid any unpleasant once you have moved into your new home. The search should supply data on, amongst other things, details on planning applications applicable to the property (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of 13 topic headings.
My wife and I own a renovated Georgian property in Raynes Park. Conveyancing solicitor acted for me and Nottingham Building Society. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw a couple of entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold with the exact same property. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?
You should review the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Raynes Park and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they remortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also check the position with your conveyancing solicitor who conducted the work.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I put an offer in last month in what was supposed to be a straight forward, no chain conveyancing. Raynes Park is where the house is located. What do you suggest?
Flying freeholds in Raynes Park are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Raynes Park you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds thoroughly. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Raynes Park may decide that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.
Our conveyancer in Raynes Park has discovered a a problem with the lease for the apartment we are purchasing in Raynes Park. The seller’s lawyers have offered defective title insurance as a solution. We are happy with insurance and will pay for it. Our solicitor has advised that as he is on the lender conveyancing panel he must be satisfied that the lender is happy with this solution. Who is the client here, us or the lender?
The short answer to your last question is that, notwithstanding the potential for a conflict of interest, you and the bank are the client. A precondition to being on the bank approved panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions require your lawyer to disclose issues such as defects will the lease so that the lender can be afforded the opportunity to check with their valuer as to the extent that the value of the property is affected . Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your lawyer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for you.