My wife and I are hoping to purchase a home in Torquay and have appointed a Torquay conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. The Mortgage Works have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Torquay solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is conventional 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 bank 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 are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Torquay lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
My husband and I are nearing an exchange on a property in Torquay and my mum and dad have sent the exchange deposit to my property lawyer. I am now informed that as the deposit has been received from someone other than me my conveyancing practitioner needs to disclose this to my bank. I am advised that, in also acting for the mortgage company he must advise them that the balance of the purchase price is not just from me. I advised the bank concerning my parents' contribution when I applied for the mortgage, so is it really appropriate for him to raise this?
Your solicitor is legally required to clarify with lender to ensure that they understand that the balance of the purchase price is not from your own funds. The solicitor can only notify this to your mortgage company if you permit them to, failing which, your lawyer must cease to continue acting.
The Torquay conveyancing solicitors that just started acting on my house acquisition in Torquay have without warning closed. I chose them because I needed a firm on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel and my preferred Torquay lawyer was not. I paid them £170 in advance. What are my options?
If you have an estate agent involved then let them know 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 should appoint new lawyers that are on the Clydesdale 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 help.
Are all Torquay Conveyancing Quality Solicitors on the Skipton conveyancing list of approved practices?
Some major banks and building societies now make use of CQS as the starting point for Panel approval such as HSBC and Santander. CQS accreditation however gives no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. That being said,the Council of Mortgage Lenders have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for firms wishing to remain on their approved list of conveyancing solicitors.
When it comes to lenders such as RBS, do Torquay property lawyers have to pay an annual charge to be on the conveyancing panel?
We are not aware of any bank fees to register on their list of approved firms, although some do levy an administration charge to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel application.
I have paid off my mortgage with Leeds Building Society. I assume I don't need a Torquay conveyancer on the Leeds Building Society panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your Leeds Building Society mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Leeds Building Society mortgage from the register. Leeds Building Society, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where Leeds Building Society has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Leeds Building Society has instructed the Land Registry to do so
About to purchase a new build flat in Torquay. Conveyancing is daunting 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 are examples of a few leasehold new build enquiries that you should expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Torquay
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Investor purchasers must be able to freely grant unsecured tenancies at market rents without requiring any consents. Please supply a car parking plan. The Vendor must covenant to keep unoccupied units in good repair until long leases are granted therefore. Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. Please confirm the Lease plans are architect prepared.
At long last a loan agreement from a mortgage company for the remortgage of my 2 bedroom apartment is due by the end of next week. Are you able to recommend a low cost remortgage conveyancing lawyer in Torquay ?
You are on the wrong site if you are in need of a cheap conveyancing in Torquay. Our intention is to offer excellent value conveyancing but we do not aim to work with the cheapest lawyers. Do not be fooled by companies offering £99 conveyancing in Torquay.In your best case scenario, in opting for cheap conveyancing, you will get what you pay for and at worst you will end up paying a lot in extras and still not receive the service you were hoping for.