My husband and I are hoping to purchase a property in Southborough and have instructed a Southborough conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Aldermore have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Southborough solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for 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 lender 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 as you are at liberty to use your preferred Southborough lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
How can we know in advance if a Southborough conveyancing solicitor on the Principality panel is any good?
When it comes to conveyancing in Southborough obtaining recommendations is a sensible starting point. Before you go ahead, check if they offer a no sale no fee offer. Also, you often get what you pay for - a firm which quotes more, will often provide a better service than one which is cheap as chips. We would always suggest that you speak with the lawyer conducting your transaction.
I recently had an offer agreed on a house in Southborough. My mortgage broker suggested a solicitor. I paid an advanced payment of £225. A couple of days later, the conveyancing practitioner called me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the TSB conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the TSB panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
I've read lots of mortgage guides, I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Southborough solicitor - who is on the Principality conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. Is that normal?
Principality will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Principality will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. Your lawyer will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by your Southborough postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with Principality, you could contact them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors in Southborough.
Have completed on a a semi-detached house in Southborough , how long will it take for the Land Registry to record my ownership? My Southborough conveyancing solicitor works at snail pace, so I want to be sure the land registry aspects are dealt with.
There is nothing unique when it comes to conveyancing in Southborough registration formalities. As opposed to being determined by geographic area, timescales can vary according to who lodges the application, whether there are errors and whether the Land registry must send notices to any third persons or bodies. As of today roughly three quarters of such applications are completed within two weeks but some can be subject to extensive hold-ups. Historically registration takes place after the new owner is living at the premises thus an expedited registration is not typically primary concern but where 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.
I have been on the look out for a flat up to £235,500 and identified one near me in Southborough I like with a park and transport links in the vicinity, however it's only got 52 years on the lease. There is not much else in Southborough for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error purchasing a short lease?
Should you need a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term may be a potential deal breaker. Reduce the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing owner has owned the premises for a minimum of twenty four months you can request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer regarding this matter.
How easy is it to use the search facility to choose a conveyancing lawyer in Southborough on the panel for my lender?
1st pick a mortgage company such as HSBC Bank, The Royal Bank of Scotland or Barclays Direct then choose your preferred area a common one being Southborough. Conveyancing firms in Southborough and nationally will then be shown.
We are in the process of purchasing a home in Southborough. Could the solicitor have our transaction price confidential from sites such as Zoopla. Is this achievable and how?
The Land Registry by statute are required to reveal price paid data on the official title for residential properties countrywide which includes premises in Southborough. The Title Register is an open document, so the Land Registry would be breaking the law if they did not grant access to the register.
In essence you can make a request of HMLR to hide the amount paid data but the answer will be in the negative.