My fiance and I are hoping to acquire a flat in Risca and have appointed a Risca conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Barclays have this morning contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Risca lawyer 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 usual 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 Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your mortgage company 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Risca solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
We are selling our flat in Risca. Will my lawyer have to be required to be on the RBS conveyancing panel in order to deal with paying off my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the RBS conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their requirements fairly frequently currently.
We are planning on selling our property in Risca and according to the buyers it appears that there is a risk of it being constructed on contaminated land. Any high street Risca conveyancer would know that there is no such problem. It does beg the question why the purchasers used a factory type conveyancing outfit rather than a conveyancing solicitor in Risca. Having lived in Risca for 5 years we know of no issue. Is it a good idea to contact our local Authority to obtain confirmation need.
It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing solicitor already. What do they say? You should check with your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out health insurance to cover that same sickness)
I opted to have a survey carried out on a house in Risca in advance of appointing conveyancers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold element to the property. Our surveyor has said that some lenders will not grant a mortgage on a flying freehold house.
It varies from the lender to lender. Santander has different requirements for example to Halifax. Should you wish to telephone us we can investigate further with the relevant bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Risca. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.
Am I right to be concerned about estate agents that I am dealing with are encouraging me to use a nationwide conveyancing firm as opposed to a High Street Risca conveyancing company?
As with many service providers, often referrals from relatives can be worth their weight in gold. Yet there are many players in a conveyancing matter; estate agents, financial adviser and mortgage companies might all recommend lawyers to select. Sometimes the conveyancers might be known to one of the organisations as being good in their field, but sometimes there behind the scenes commercial relationship behind the recommendation. You are free to choose your own lawyer. However, bear in mind that many banks specify a panel list of law firms you have to use for the lender aspect of your conveyancing.
We are soon to exchange buying a property in Risca but as a result of wreckage from the recent storms I have negotiated reparation from the vendor of £2k taking the form of a adjustment in the price. This was going to be addressed as part of the conveyancing process but the bank will not agree to this. Should they have been involved?
The property lawyer that is on a lender conveyancing panel is duty bound to inform the lender of any amendments to the purchase figure. If you were to refuse your lawyer to report the price change to your lender then they would have no choice but to disinstructing themselves from acting for you and the lender.