My wife and I are buying a 2 bedroom apartment in St Pancras with a mortgage. We have a St Pancras conveyancer, however the bank says she’s not on their "panel". It seems we have little choice but to select one of the lender panel conveyancing practices or keep our St Pancras solicitor as well as pay for one of their panel lawyers to represent them. This seems very unfair; is there anything we can do?
No, not really. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the lender’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose 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. A further alternative is for your St Pancras conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
It is a dozen years since I purchased my house in St Pancras. Conveyancing solicitors have just been appointed on the sale but I am unable to locate my title documents. Is this a major issue?
You need not be too concerned. First the deeds may be with your lender or they may be in the possession of the conveyancers who oversaw the purchase. Secondly the likelihood is that the land will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to prove you own the property by your conveyancing solicitors procuring current official copies of the land registers. The vast majority of conveyancing in St Pancras involves registered property but in the rare situation where your home is not registered it is more of a problem but is not insurmountable.
My Conveyancer in St Pancras has never been on on the Accord Mortgages Ltd Conveyancing Panel. Is it possible for me to retain my prefered solicitor even though they are not on the Accord Mortgages Ltd list of approved lawyers?
The limited options available to you here include:
- Carry on with your preferred St Pancras lawyers but Accord Mortgages Ltd will need to instruct a conveyancer on their list of acceptable firms. This will inevitably rack up the total conveyancing fees and result in delays.
- Find an alternative lawyer to to deal with the purchase, remembering to check they are Accord Mortgages Ltd approved.
- Try to convince your Accord Mortgages Ltd solicitor to attempt to join the Accord Mortgages Ltd panel
My wife and I are purchasing a apartment in St Pancras. I might seem paranoid but how we can trust a solicitor? At some point we have to send funds into their account. What is the protection we have from them run away with our deposit?
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.
is it true that all St Pancras conveyancing solicitors on the Skipton conveyancing panel are regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?
As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the Skipton approved list of solicitors they would need to be overseen by the SRA. The majority of mortgage companies do allow licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such practice would be regulated by the CLC.
Intending to buy a apartment in St Pancras. I have received an online quote from a licenced conveyancer, which states: "There will be no charge for dealing with the Lender if you are obtaining a mortgage". I take this to mean that there will be no additional fee if the solicitor is on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel. I wanted to make sure it means there will be no additional fees for dealing with the mortgage.
They are simply saying that the cost for acting for the lender is included in the fee being quoted. It is worth you checking that the St Pancras solicitor is on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel.
Just acquired a terraced house in St Pancras , What is the estimated time for the Land Registry to deal with the formalities evidencing the transfer to my name? My St Pancras conveyancing solicitor has been very slow, so I want to be sure the post completion formalities are addressed.
There is nothing unique about conveyancing in St Pancras registration formalities. Rather than based on location, timeframes can differ according to the party submitting the application, whether there are errors and whether the Land registry have to notify any other persons or bodies. As of today roughly three quarters of such applications are fully addressed within two weeks but occasionally there can be extensive delays. Historically registration takes place after the new owner is living at the premises so 'speed' is not always an essential issue yet where it is urgent that the the registration takes place urgently then you or your solicitor could communicate with the Registry to express the reasoning for the application to be prioritised.
I opted to have a survey completed on a property in St Pancras before instructing lawyers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold element to the property. My surveyor advised that some lenders tend refuse to grant a loan on a flying freehold home.
It varies from the lender to lender. Lloyds has different instructions for example to Nationwide. If you e-mail us we can check via the appropriate bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in St Pancras. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in St Pancras to see if the conveyancing costs will increase in light of this.