My partner and I are planning to purchase a flat in Rufford and have appointed a Rufford conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. The Royal Bank of Scotland have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Rufford solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is normal 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 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 lawyers to represent them. 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 have another set of people involved.
Can the conveyancing lawyers that are recommend conduct auction conveyancing in Rufford?
We know of a number of niche practitioners we can connect you with those conducting auction conveyancing. Rufford is just one of the many areas of in which our lawyers have offices.
We are selling our home in Rufford. Does the conveyancing practitioner have to be on the Nationwide conveyancing panel in order to deal with redeeming my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Nationwide 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 panel criteria fairly frequently currently.
Me and my brother purchased a 4 bedroom Georgian house in Rufford. Conveyancing practitioner acted for me and Santander. I did a free Land Registry search last week and there are two entries: the first freehold, the second leasehold under the matching property. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?
You need to read 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 Rufford and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they sell they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also enquire as to the position with your conveyancing practitioner who conducted the conveyancing.
How does conveyancing in Rufford differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build or newly converted property in Rufford come to us having been asked by the housebuilder to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the house is built. This is because new home sellers in Rufford tend to purchase the land, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are used to new build conveyancing in Rufford or who has acted in the same development.
I decided to have a survey carried out on a house in Rufford before appointing solicitors. I have been told that there is a flying freehold aspect to the property. My surveyor advised that some mortgage companies may not grant a loan on such a house.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Santander has different requirements from Birmingham Midshires. Should you wish to telephone us we can investigate further via the appropriate lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Rufford. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Rufford especially if they are accustomed to such properties in Rufford.