My partner and I are planning to acquire a flat in South Kensington and are in fact using a South Kensington conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. National Westminster Bank have this evening contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our South Kensington conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
If you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is standard 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 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 solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own South Kensington solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Our bank has recommended solicitors on their panel based in South Kensington but I would rather use a conveyancing lawyer in South Kensington or nearer to where I live. Are you able to assist?
It is by no means the case that all South Kensington conveyancing practitioners are listed all lender’s conveyancing panel. Please make the most of our search tool to locate a South Kensington conveyancing conveyancer on the on the lender panel.
My relative recommended that if I am buying in South Kensington I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
This is a search is occasionally quoted for as part of the standard South Kensington conveyancing searches. It is a large report of about 40 pages, listing and detailing important information about South Kensington around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the South Kensington Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, South Kensington Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data concerning South Kensington.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly identified during conveyancing in South Kensington?
Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in South Kensington. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
Is there anything unique about your site and alternative web based conveyancing solicitors when it comes to conveyancing in South Kensington?
At this site receive an accurate costs illustration via a Solicitor or Licensed Conveyancer that has a full understanding of the issues for your conveyancing in South Kensington. As opposed to estate agents and brokerage sites we do not operate referral deals with solicitors. A large number of agents and online brokers 'recommend' the firm paying the highest per referral, rather than the best value conveyancing in South Kensington
To what extent are South Kensington conveyancing solicitors duty bound by the Law Society to supply clear conveyancing costs?
Contained within the Solicitors Code of Conduct are set rules and regulations as to how the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) allow solicitors to publicise their charges to clients.The Law Society have practice note giving advice on how to publicise transparent charges to avoid breaching any such rule. Practice notes are not legal advice issued by the Law Society and is not intended as the only standard of good practice a conveyancing solicitor should adhere to. The Practice Note does, nevertheless, represent the Law Society’s perspective of acceptable practice for publicising conveyancing charges, and accordingly it’s a recommended read for any solicitor or conveyancer in South Kensington or or elsewhere in the country.