My partner and I are planning to acquire a flat in Selby and have appointed a Selby conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Britannia have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Selby lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for 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 solicitor 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 lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Selby solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
Is there a reason why leasehold purchase conveyancing in Selby is more expensive?
Selby leasehold properties involve far more paperwork than a freehold purchase, and therefore takes more time to examine and advise upon.Conveyancing will involve the lease having to be checked which is usually a lengthy document, queries raised to ensure that the covenants and conditions have been observed. If it is a flat there will be a management company in existence and the accounts of this will need to be checked and enquiries raised to ensure it is operating efficiently and that all monies due have been paid by the Seller to the company and if not ensuring that money is paid up to date or the appropriate undertakings obtained.
It has been five months following my purchase conveyancing in Selby took place. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £200,000 when infact I paid £180,000. 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 premises 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.
I decided to have a survey done on a house in Selby in advance of appointing solicitors. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold element to the house. The surveyor advised that some lenders will refuse to give a mortgage on this type of premises.
It varies from the lender to lender. Lloyds has different requirements for example to Halifax. Should you wish to telephone us we can look into this further via the relevant lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Selby. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Selby to see if the conveyancing costs will increase in light of this.
My father-in-law has recommend that I use his lawyers for conveyancing in Selby. Do I follow his guidance?
No doubt it’s preferable to select a conveyancing practitioner is to get feedback from friends or relatives who have used the conveyancer that you are are thinking of instructing.
We have had DIP from Nationwide Building Society who have advised that they will loan up to £300k. At what point do we need to appoint a solicitor for conveyancing? Selby is where we are purchasing.
You can appoint a property lawyer now so that the property lawyer can open the file so they can conduct their AML checks etc. As and when you wish them to start work they will seek a deposit normally about £175. That would generally be once you have the loan offer from your lender and valuation back, nevertheless should you want to expedite the process you can start the ball rolling sooner even though you may be risking some money.