My partner and I are hoping to buy a house in Rufford and have instructed a Rufford conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Barnsley Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Rufford solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
If you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is standard 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 lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Rufford solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
When it comes to mortgage companies such as Yorkshire BS, do Rufford conveyancers face a yearly amount to be on the list of approved solicitors?
We are not aware of any lender fees to be on their panel, although some do levy an administration fee to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel submission.
We previously instructed conveyancing lawyers based in Rufford on the Coventry BS solicitor approved list. They are now charging me a supplemental charge for the legal aspects of the Coventry BS mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee set by Coventry BS?
As unfair as it may seem, as long as it’s in their Terms of Engagement or estimate then yes your solicitor is entitled to charge a fee for this. This charge is not dictated by Coventry BS but by your Rufford property lawyer. Some firms on the Coventry BS panel will levy an ‘acting for lender’ fee and others do not.
I have instructed a Rufford property lawyer having made sure that they are on the Nationwide conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
Nationwide will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Nationwide will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own Rufford surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.
What does a local search inform me concerning the house I am buying in Rufford?
Rufford conveyancing often starts with the ordering local authority searches directly from your local Authority or via a personal search company for example Searches UK The local search plays an important role in many a Rufford conveyancing purchase; that is if you don’t want any nasty surprises after you move into your property. The search should supply data on, amongst other things, details on planning applications relevant to the premises (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.
3 months have gone by since my purchase conveyancing in Rufford completed. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £175,000 when infact I paid £170,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the residence from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
Am I best advised to instruct a Rufford conveyancing solicitor based in the location that I am hoping to buy? An old friend can execute the legal work however they are based 200kilometers away.
The primary upside of using a local Rufford conveyancing practice is that you can visit the firm to sign documents, hand in your ID and apply pressure on them where appropriate. They will also have local intelligence which is a bonus. That being said nothing is more important than finding someone that will do a good and efficient job. If other friends have used your friend and on the whole were impressed that must surpass using an unfamiliar Rufford conveyancing solicitor just because they are Rufford based.
My 20yr old son is about to join the property ladder, he had his mortgage in principle. One the seller agreed the offer on the apartment we rang the mortgage institution to issue the formal offer. I was disappointed to hear that mortgage lenders do not accept all conveyancer, they must be on their panel, is this right?
Mortgage Companies tend to restrict either the type or the number of conveyancing practices on their panel. Typical examples of such restriction(s) being that a firm must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some have decided to limit the number of firms they use to represent them. You should note that banks have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any Rufford lawyer on their panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of conveyancing panels a few years ago and whilst there are differing views about the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms only carry out one or two conveyances a year. Those supporting conveyancing panel cuts ask why law firms should have the right to be on a Lender panel when clearly, conveyancing is not their speciality. To put it another way; would you want a conveyancing solicitor to represent you if you were charged with a crime? Probably not.