I am five weeks into the sale of my home in Sprotbrough and the estate agent has just telephoned to advise that the buyers are appointing a new law firm. I am told that this is due to the fact that the bank will only deal with property lawyers on their conveyancing panel. On what basis would a leading lender only engage with certain solicitors rather the firm that they want to choose to handle their conveyancing in Sprotbrough ?
Banks have always had an approved set of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the past few years big names such as Santander, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for decades.
Lenders justify this action to a rise in fraud as the reason for the reduction – criteria have been narrowed as a smaller panel is easier to maintain. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is hearing daily from firms that have been removed from panels. Some are unaware that they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. Your purchasers are not going to have any sway in the decision.
Are the Sprotbrough conveyancing solicitors identified as being on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel, together with their details provided by Kent Reliance?
Sprotbrough conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Kent Reliance directly.
Can you clarify what the consequences are if my solicitor is suspended from the Barclays Solicitor panel ahead of completing my conveyancing in Sprotbrough?
First, this is a very rare occurrence. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have to instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by a regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit at a cost.
Do I need to pay for insurance to address the risk of chancel repairs when buying a property in Sprotbrough?
Unless a previous acquisition of the house took place post 12 October 2013 you may assume that lawyers handling conveyancing in Sprotbrough to continue to advocate a chancel search and or chancel repair liability insurance.
The deeds to our property can not be found. The solicitors who conducted the conveyancing in Sprotbrough 10 years ago no longer exist. Will I be able to sell the house?
These day there are duplicates made of almost everything, and your conveyancer will be aware precisely where to locate all the appropriate documentation so you can purchase or sell your house without any difficulty. If duplicates can’t be located, your solicitor can arrange cover in the form of insurance or indemnities against possible claims on the property.
In my capacity as executor for the will of my grandmother I am selling a property in Newport but live in Sprotbrough. My lawyer (based 260 miles from mehas requested that I sign a stat dec before completion. Can you recommend a conveyancing solicitor in Sprotbrough to witness and place their company stamp on the document?
strictly speaking you are not likely to need to have the documents witnessed by a conveyancing solicitor. Ordinarily any notary public or qualified solicitor will do regardless of whether they are based in Sprotbrough