My fiance and I are looking to purchase a house in Redbridge and have appointed a Redbridge conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Yorkshire Building Society have this morning contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Redbridge conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers 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 lawyers to represent them. 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 Redbridge lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Completed the sale of my flat in Redbridge last April yet the purchaser is SMS messaging every few hours complaining that his solicitor is waiting to hear from mine. What should have happened now that I have sold?
Following your house sale your conveyancer is committed to forward the transfer deeds and all of the paperwork to the purchaser's conveyancer. If applicable, your solicitor should also confirm that the mortgage has been discharged to the buyers conveyancers. There is unlikely to be post completion formalities peculiar conveyancing in Redbridge.
Do the Building Society Association intend to launch a searchable register to list law firms on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel for instance in Redbridge?
We have not been informed any intention on the part of the BSA to develop such a search facility.
Do commercial conveyancing searches reveal proposed roadworks that could impact a commercial estate in Redbridge?
Its becoming the norm that commercial conveyancing solicitors in Redbridge will order a SiteSolutions Highways report as it reduces the time that conveyancers spend in researching accurate data on highways that impact buildings and development assets in Redbridge. The report sets out definitive data on the adoption status of roads, footpaths and verges, as well as the implication of traffic schemes and the rights of way surrounding a commercial development sites in Redbridge.
For every commercial conveyancing transaction in Redbridge it is critical to investigate the adoption status of roads surrounding a site. The absence of identifying developments where adoption procedures have not been dealt with adequately may result in delays to Redbridge commercial conveyancing deals as well as present a risk to future plans for the site. These searches are not carried out for residential conveyancing in Redbridge.
My wife and I have a semi-detached Georgian property in Redbridge. Conveyancing lawyer acted for me and Skipton Building Society. I did a free Land Registry search last week and there are a couple of entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold with the exact same address. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?
You should assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be 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 Redbridge and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also question the position with your conveyancing solicitor who completed the work.
My father-in-law has recommend that I appoint his conveyancers in Redbridge. Do I follow his advice?
There are no two ways about it it’s preferable to choose a conveyancing lawyer is to have guidance from friends or relatives who have actually previously instructed the solicitor that you are considering.