My solicitor has discovered a a legal deficiency with the lease for the apartment we are purchasing in Shadwell. The seller’s lawyers have put forward title insurance as a solution. We are content with insurance and will pay for it. Our property lawyer says that he must check that the mortgage company is content with this solution. Who is the client here, us or the lender?
The short answer to your last question is that, notwithstanding the risk of a conflict of interest, you and the mortgage company are the client. Your solicitor must comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions require your lawyer to disclose issues such as defects with the lease so that the mortgage company can be afforded the opportunity to check with their valuer as to the extent that the value of the property is affected. Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your property lawyer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for you.
As someone clueless as to the Shadwell conveyancing process what is the number one tip you can give me for the legal transfer of property in Shadwell
You may not hear this from too many lawyers but conveyancing in Shadwell and elsewhere in Leeds is often a confrontational process. Put another way, when it comes to conveyancing there is lots of room for confrontation between you and others involved in the ownership transfer. For instance, the seller, selling agent and even potentially a bank. Selecting a solicitor for your conveyancing in Shadwell should not be taken lightly as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the ONLY person in the transaction whose interest is to look after your best interests and to keep you safe.
We are witnessing a distinct ongoing adversarial element to conveyancing- someone must be at fault for the process being so protracted. We recommend that you your first instinct should be to trust your solicitor ahead of the other parties when it comes to the legal transfer of property.
I own a 4 bedroom Edwardian house in Shadwell. Conveyancing lawyer represented me and HSBC Bank. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are a couple of entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold with the matching property. I'd like to know for sure, how can I find out??
You need to review 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 owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Shadwell and other areas of 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 question the position with the conveyancing lawyer who conducted the purchase.
How does conveyancing in Shadwell differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build premises in Shadwell approach us having been asked by the housebuilder to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the residence is finished. This is because builders in Shadwell typically acquire 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 property lawyers 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 accustomed to new build conveyancing in Shadwell or who has acted in the same development.
I am a couple of weeks into a leasehold purchase having been recommend to a firm by the selling agent to execute conveyancing in Shadwell. I am am starting to be disappointed with the quality of service. Could you you assist me in finding new lawyers?
A solicitor would have to be very bad in order to consider diss instructing them. Has the mortgage been issued? In the event that it has you must make them aware of the new contact details and ensure the offer are issued to the new lawyers. Your new solicitor ideally should be on the lenders panel to avoid escalating fees and frustration. So that should be your first question of the new conveyancers. Our search tool should assist you in finding a bank approved lawyer for your conveyancing in Shadwell
My husband and I are hoping to buy a three bedroom apartmentin Shadwell with a mortgage from a lender. We wish to instruct our conveyancer in Shadwell yet our bank says she’s not on their "panel". It seems we have little choice but to instruct one of the our mortgage company panel solicitors or stay with our Shadwell conveyancer and incur the extra costs for one of their panel ones to represent them. We feel as though this is unjust; Can we not simply insist that our lender use our Shadwell lawyer?
No, not really. The lender mortgage issued is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that solicitors will on the mortgage company's conveyancing panel. Until recently, most banks had open panels, including most conveyancing solicitors in Shadwell : a mortgagee could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. Another option that might be available is for your lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for your mortgage company.