My fiance and I are hoping to buy a house in Tolworth and have instructed a Tolworth conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Coventry Building Society have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Tolworth solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent 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 Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Tolworth solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
Can the conveyancing lawyers that you recommend conduct right to buy conveyancing in Tolworth?
We have identified a number of conveyancing firms carrying out right to buy transactions You should e-mail us with a view to obtain a costs illustration.
When it comes to lenders such as Kent Reliance, do Tolworth conveyancing practitioners face an annual charge to be on the list of approved solicitors?
We are unaware of any mortgage company fees to be on their panel, although some do levy an administration charge to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel submission.
Is it the case that all Tolworth conveyancing solicitors on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel are regulated by the SRA?
As solicitors, in order to be on the Virgin Money approved list of solicitors they would need to be governed by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. Many banks do allow licenced conveyancers on their panel and in such a situation the practice would be governed by the CLC.
We are getting the release of further monies on our home loan from Barclays as we wish to carry out alterations to our house in Tolworth. Do we need to choose a high street Tolworth solicitor on the Barclays conveyancing panel to handle the legals?
Barclays do not ordinarily instruct firms on their conveyancing panel to handle such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Barclays panel.
What will a local search inform me about the house my wife and I buying in Tolworth?
Tolworth conveyancing often commences with the submitting local authority searches directly from your local Authority or through a personal search organisations for example PSG The local search is essential in every Tolworth conveyancing purchase; that is if you don’t want any nasty surprises after you move into your property. The search should provide data on, amongst other things, details on planning applications applicable to the premises (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of 13 topic headings.
The deeds to my home are lost. The solicitors who did the conveyancing in Tolworth 10 years ago have long since closed. What do I do?
You no longer need to have the physical original deeds to establish that you are the owner of your registered land or property, given that the Land Registry hold details of all registered land or property electronically.
I have just started marketing my ground floor flat in Tolworth. Conveyancing is yet to be initiated, but I have recently had a half-yearly maintenance charge demand – what should I do?
Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should pay the maintenance contribution as usual given that all rents and service payments should be apportioned as part of the financial calculations for completion monies, so you will be reimbursed by the purchaser for the period running from after the completion date to the subsequent invoice date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.
After years of dialogue we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Tolworth. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?
You certainly can. We are happy to put you in touch with a Tolworth conveyancing firm who can help.
An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Tolworth property is Flat D 15 Claremont Gardens in September 2013. TheTribunal determined in accordance with section48 and Schedule13 of the Leasehold Reform,Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 that the premium for the extended lease should be fourteen thousand one hundred and eighty seven pounds (£14,187.00) This case affected 1 flat.