My fiance and I are planning to buy a house in Skipton and are in fact using a Skipton conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Birmingham Midshires have this morning contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Skipton solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent 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 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Skipton 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 hoping to complete my purchase in Skipton next Tuesday. My conveyancing practitioner now wants me to supply her with evidence of content and building insurance for the property as he says that he has to check this in his capacity as lawyer for the mortgage company. What risks does the lender expect the insurance to cover?
All property lawyers on acting for mortgage companies would need to check that the following risks are covered fire; lightning; aircraft; explosion; earthquake; storm; flood; escape of water or oil; riot; malicious damage; theft or attempted theft; falling trees and branches and aerials; subsidence; heave;landslip;collision;accidental damage to underground services;professional fees, demolition and site clearance costs; and public liability to anyone else. There are some other issues such as the level of excess that are set out in a lender’s UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements. These requirements are not specific to conveyancing in Skipton.
What is the first thing I need to know regarding purchase conveyancing in Skipton?
You may not hear this from too many lawyers but conveyancing in Skipton or throughout England and Wales is an adversarial process. Put another way, when it comes to conveyancing there exists lots of opportunity for conflict between you and other parties involved in the ownership transfer. For instance, the seller, estate agent and even potentially your mortgage company. Appointing a lawyer for your conveyancing in Skipton should not be taken lightly as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the ONLY party in the transaction whose role it is to act in your legal interests and to protect you.
There is a definite ongoing adversarial element to conveyancing- someone must be at fault for the process taking so long. You must always trust your lawyer above all other players when it comes to the legal assignment of property.
I have been told that property searches are the number one reason for delay in Skipton conveyancing transactions. Is this right?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) published conclusions of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature amongst the common causes of hindrances in the conveyancing process. Local searches are not likely to be the root cause of slowing down conveyancing in Skipton.
I have been on the look out for a flat up to £305k and identified one round the corner in Skipton I like with a park and transport links in the vicinity, however it's only got 61 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Skipton in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a lease with such few years left?
Should you require a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term will be an issue. Discount the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for at least 2 years you may request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer about this.
I'm remortgaging my current property to a BTL loan with Platform Home Loans Ltd and intend to use the remaining equity as a deposit on a second property. The location we are interested in is Skipton. Will your solicitors be able to act for both sets of lenders and link together the transactions?
Do use our comparison tool on this site to ensure that the lawyers are on the relevant lender panels. Having checked that they are your lawyer will be able to connect the two transactions but you should talk with you solicitor and make apparent your expectations and requirements.