We note that you have a post code search directory listing law firms on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel. Do firms pay you a commission if I retain them for our conveyancing in St Mary Cray?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint for your conveyancing in St Mary Cray.
The St Mary Cray conveyancing lawyers that I recently instructed on my house acquisition in St Mary Cray have without warning closed. I chose them because I needed a lawyer on the Nottingham conveyancing panel and my previous St Mary Cray lawyer was not. I paid them £170 in advance. What are my options?
If you have an estate agent involved then inform them immediately so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Nottingham conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors should be in a position to assist.
My wife and I have organised the release of further funds on our home loan from Kent Reliance as we want to conduct renovations to our house in St Mary Cray. Are we obliged to choose a nearby St Mary Cray solicitor on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel to deal with the legals?
Kent Reliance don't usually appoint firms on their conveyancing panel to deal with such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel.
The formalities of my remortgage has taken place for my property in St Mary Cray. Conveyancing was a necessary evil but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about the lender. How does one go about formally complaining?
All lenders have complaints procedures. Your first point of contact should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Care Team at head office. We understand that complaints to a lender are sorted out effectively and efficiently. If you feel the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service with full details of your complaint.
I have instructed a St Mary Cray conveyancer having checked that they are on the Principality conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
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. You may wish to consider appointing your own St Mary Cray surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.
A colleague recommended that if I am purchasing in St Mary Cray I should ask my conveyancer to perform a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
This is a search is sometimes included in the estimate for your St Mary Cray conveyancing searches. It is not a small document of about 40 pages, listing and detailing important information about St Mary Cray around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime details, St Mary Cray Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data regarding St Mary Cray.
The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build apartment in St Mary Cray. Conveyancing is a frightening process at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build legal work.
Here is a sample of a few leasehold new build enquiries that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in St Mary Cray
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Please supply a car parking plan. The Lease must contain a provision on behalf of the Vendor to pay the service charges in respect of unoccupied units in order to ensure that all services can be provided. Will control of the Management Company (if any) be handed over to purchasers on completion of the last sale or earlier? Has the Lease plan been approved by the Land Registry and if not when will they be lodged for this purpose? Where service of notices and proceedings can be at the property demised please confirm that this can be amended to include simultaneous services at the Lessees’ solicitors’ offices where the Lessee from time to time is not resident in the UK - such solicitors may be varied by notice in writing to the Landlord from time to time but otherwise will be as previously specified.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold element on a house I put an offer in last month in what was supposed to be a simple, chain free conveyancing. St Mary Cray is where the house is located. Can you offer any assistance?
Flying freeholds in St Mary Cray are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside St Mary Cray you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds thoroughly. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in St Mary Cray may ascertain that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.