My partner and I are looking to acquire a property in Seaton Delaval and have appointed a Seaton Delaval conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Alliance & Leicester have this morning contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Seaton Delaval solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent 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 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 lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Seaton Delaval lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
At what point can the exchange of contracts take place for sale conveyancing in Seaton Delaval and am I required to attend the lawyers office?
If you are round the corner to our conveyancing solicitors in Seaton Delaval you are invited in to sign contracts. However, the law practices we recommend provide countrywide coverage for conveyancing and provide as equally comprehensive and professional a job for you when communicating with you digitally. The signing of the contract is not when everything is set in stone. A signed contract is necessary for the solicitor to address the formalities when the time is right, which is ordinarily shortly after signing. The procedure is is usually a five minute process, although where a lengthy "chain" is in play, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Seaton Delaval)to be in the office available at the end of the phone to exchange contracts.
We are aiming to move property in March. Does my conveyancing solicitor update the removal company on the completion day. Incidentally, can you recommend a removal company in Seaton Delaval. Conveyancing lawyer was found prior to coming across your site.
On the day of completion you will need to pick up the house keys from your estate agent but this can only happen when the previous owners lawyers confirm to the agent that they have the completion monies and the keys can be released. You should advise the removal company that they can start moving you in. As a matter of policy we do not recommend a specific removal company but can help you find a residential property solicitor in Seaton Delaval or a firm with expertise in conveyancing in Seaton Delaval.
The formalities of my remortgage has taken place for my property in Seaton Delaval. Conveyancing was satisfactory but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about the lender. Who do I contact should I wish to lodge a complaint?
Almost all lenders have complaints procedures. Your first point of contact should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Services Department at head office. We understand that complaints to a lender are resolved effectively and efficiently. If you feel the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service with full details of your complaint.
I had an offer accepted on a property in Seaton Delaval on 25/10/2024, valuation was booked 2 days later, received a clean bill of health. Conveyancer appointed, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to HSBC and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the HSBC conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?
A lender would not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for HSBC to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the HSBC conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
I used Wolstenholmes a few years ago for my conveyancing in Seaton Delaval. Now, I need my files but the law firm has closed. What do I do?
Do contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Seaton Delaval of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously hired, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
Am I best advised to choose a Seaton Delaval conveyancing practitioner based in the vicinity that I am buying? An old friend can deal with the conveyancing but they are based approximately 350kilometers away.
The benefit of a local Seaton Delaval conveyancing practice is that you can pop in to sign documents, deliver your ID and apply pressure on them where appropriate. They will also have local insight which is a bonus. That being said it's more important to get someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If you know people who used your friend and in the main were content that must surpass using an unfamiliar Seaton Delaval conveyancing solicitor solely due to them being local.
Me and my partner have recently had an offer accepted on a property and had an appointment on Wednesday with HSBC for the mortgage. They warned me that when it comes to choosing a lawyer that if they are not on their approved list of property lawyers then we will incur an additional fee of £250+. This is because they will then have to select a solicitor to act on their behalf as well as the one we select on our behalf and we assume responsibility for their invoice. I have asked HSBC to send me with a list so I can obtain estimates only from their approved lawyers but was told they dont have such a list to hand over. What would be the best way of going about this?
Ask HSBC what their panel criteria is for a solicitor.Thereafter ask the lawyer of your choice whether they meet the criteria and have they acted on mortgages for HSBC before. If the answer to those is yes, then just double check with HSBC. Alternatively please utilise our search tool and we should be able to identify a lawyer in Seaton Delaval on the panel for HSBC.