My husband and I are looking to acquire a property in Selsey and are in fact using a Selsey conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Nottingham Building Society have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Selsey solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' solicitors 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 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 lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Selsey solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
I am in a contract race with another buyer for a property in Selsey. What can be done to speed up the legal process?
First, If you are under pressure for your conveyancing we would recommend that your solicitor is familiar with the location as they will benefit local contacts and insight. It is possible that they may have transacted otherhomes in the same neighbourhood. Therefore consider using a Selsey conveyancing lawyer. Second, be sure that the conveyancing firm is on the lender panel. It is claimed that nearly one in five of Selsey conveyancing deals are frustrated or jeopardised after finding out that a purchaser’s solicitor was not on their banks list of approved solicitors. This can often result in the transaction being held up by an average of three weeks. It is said that this issue impacts in the region of one hundred thousand home sales annually. Many Selsey conveyancing practices can not represent certain mortgage companies so do check as early as possible.
Is it correct that all Selsey CQS (Conveyancing Quality Scheme) solicitors are on the Co-operative conveyancing list of approved practices?
It is true that some banks and building societies now use the accreditation scheme as the starting point for Panel membership such as HSBC and Santander. CQS accreditation however gives no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. That being said,the Council of Mortgage Lenders have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for solicitor practices wishing to remain on their panels.
Is it the case that all Selsey conveyancing solicitors on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel are governed by the SRA?
As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the Bank of Ireland approved list of solicitors they would need to be regulated by the SRA. Some lenders do list licenced conveyancers on their panel and in that case the firms would be overseen by the CLC.
Kent Reliance have agreed my home loan in principle, my offer on a flat in Selsey has been agreed to, what happens next?
The estate agent will want to be advised as to your conveyancer's details (ensure that the lawyers are on the lender’s panel). Call up Kent Reliance or the financial adviser and finalise any outstanding forms. Kent Reliance will appoint a valuer who will get in touch with the estate agent or owners to schedule an appointment. Once conducted (assuming no problems) it takes on average ten days to receive the mortgage offer. Kent Reliance will issue the offer to you and your conveyancers. The transaction will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Selsey.
Do I need to take out insurance to cover chancel repairs when purchasing a house in Selsey?
Unless a prior acquisition of the premises took place post 12 October 2013 you could expect conveyancing practitioners carrying out conveyancing in Selsey to continue to suggest a chancel search and or insurance against a claim.
I completed on my flat on 13 November and my personal details is yet to be registered. Any reason for this? My conveyancing solicitor in Selsey said it will be recorded in less than a month. Are titles in Selsey particularly slow to register?
As far as conveyancing in Selsey registration is no faster or slower than anywhere else in England and Wales. Rather than based on location, timescales can differ depending on who lodges the application, whether it is in order and whether the Land registry communicate with any other persons or bodies. As of today in the region of three quarters of such applications are fully addressed in less than three weeks but some can be subject to extensive hold-ups. Registration is effected once the new owner has moved in to the premises therefore post completion formalities is not typically top priority yet if there is a degree of urgency associated with the registration then you or your solicitor should communicate with the Registry to express the reasoning for the application to be prioritised.
We're new on the property ladder - had an offer accepted, yet the selling agent told us that the vendor will only issue a contract if we use the agent's chosen conveyancers as they are insisting on a ‘quick sale’. My instinct tells me that we should use a high street conveyancer who is accustomed to conveyancing in Selsey
We suspect that the seller is not behind this ultimatum. Should the owner require ‘a quick sale', turning down a genuine purchaser is going to damage their objectives. Try to communicate with the owners directly and make the point that (a)you are keen to buy (b)you are ready to go, with finances in place © you are chain free (d) you wish to move quickly (e)however you are going to instruct your preferred Selsey conveyancing lawyers - rather thanthose that will earn their negotiator at the agency a kickback or achieve conveyancing figures set by senior management.