My husband and I are buying a newly converted apartment in Spitalfields with a loan from Barclays .We use our Spitalfields conveyancing practitioner but Barclays informed us his firm is not on their "panel". It seems we are left with little choice but to instruct a Barclays panel firm or keep our high street solicitor and fork out for a Barclays panel lawyer to act for them. This seems very unfair; is there anything we can do?
No, not really. The home loan offered to you contains various provisions, a common one being that lawyers needs to be on the Barclays conveyancing panel. in the past, most lenders had large numbers of solicitors on their panels: a borrower could find 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 Barclays
We are buying a apartment in Spitalfields. I might seem paranoid but how we can trust a lawyer? On completion day we will need to put money into their account. What protection do we have from them run away with our monies?
Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.
I happen to be the sole beneficiary of my late mum's estate with all property in now in my sole name, including the my former home in Spitalfields. Conveyancing formalities meant that the Land Registry date was in September. I now wish to sell up. I do know about the Mortgage Lenders 6 month 'rule', meaning my proprietorship may be considered the same way as if I'd bought the house in September. Is the property unsalable for six months?
The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ handbook mandates conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." Technically you might be affected by that. How practical a view lenders take of it, depend on the lender as this clause chiefly exists to identify the purchase and immediately sell or the quick reselling of properties.
Coventry BS have agreed my home loan in principle, my offer on a flat in Spitalfields has been agreed to, now what?
Your property agent will want to be advised as to your conveyancing practitioner's details (ensure that the conveyancers are on the bank’s approved list). Telephone Coventry BS or your broker and finish off any outstanding documentation. Coventry BS will instruct a valuer who will get in contact with the estate agent or seller to schedule an appointment. Once carried out (assuming no problems) it takes approximately a fortnight to get a mortgage offer. Coventry BS will send the offer to you and your solicitors. The legal work will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Spitalfields.
My wife and I are selling our property in Spitalfields and the buyers lawyers are claiming that there is a risk of it being constructed land that was not decontaminated. Any high street Spitalfields lawyer would know that there is no such problem. It does beg the question why the purchasers used a national conveyancing practice as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Spitalfields. We have lived in Spitalfields for 5 years we know of no issue. Should we get in touch with our local Authority to obtain clarification that there is no issue.
It would appear that you have a conveyancing firm already. Are they able to advise? You must check with your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out life insurance to cover that same sickness)
I used Action Conveyancing a few years past for my conveyancing in Spitalfields. I now require my file however the law firm has closed. What do I do?
Do contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to assist in tracing your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Spitalfields of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously instructed, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
We're new on the property ladder - had an offer accepted, but the property agent advised that the owners will only proceed if we instruct their recommended conveyancers as they need an ‘expedited deal’. My instinct tells me that we should use a high street solicitor with experience of conveyancing in Spitalfields
It is highly unlikely the sellers are behind this. Should the vendor desire ‘a quick sale', alienating a motivated buyer is not the way to achieve this. Speak to the vendors direct and make the point that (a)you are keen to buy (b)you are ready to go, with mortgage lined up © you have nothing to sell (d) you wish to move quickly (e)however you will continue to use your preferred Spitalfields conveyancing lawyers - not the ones that will provide their estate agent a referral fee or achieve conveyancing targets pre-set by head office.
How does one as executor remove a deceased person's details from the title register for a property in Spitalfields?
Where a Spitalfields property is jointly owned and one of the owners dies, their name will not automatically be removed from the title deeds. It is not necessary to remove their name as when it comes to a sale your conveyancer would just be required to evidence why the other proprietor is not included in the contract, typically this takes the form of a grant of probate.
With a view to making the sale conveyancing more straight forward in the future you can arrange to have the deceased person removed from the title by submitting an application to HMLR with evidence of the death. There is no fee from the Registry for this service.