My husband and I are looking to buy a flat in Townhill and have appointed a Townhill conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Aldermore have this morning contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Townhill 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 act for the purchaser's lender. 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 solicitor should contact your mortgage company and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. 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 Townhill lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
We see that you have a search directory listing solicitors on the Co-operative conveyancing panel. Do firms pay you a commission if I instruct them for our own conveyancing in Townhill?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the Co-operative conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint for your conveyancing in Townhill.
Do the Building Society Association intend to launch a online directory to to identify firms on the Darlington Building Society conveyancing panel for instance in Townhill?
We have not been informed any intention on the part of the BSA to develop such a register.
We are buying a 4 bedroom semi-detached house in Townhill. We would like to convert the garage to an office at the property.Will legal conveyancing on the property include checks to see if these works were previously refused?
Your conveyancer will check the deeds as conveyancing in Townhill can on occasion reveal restrictions in the title documents which prohibit certain works or require the permission of another owner. Certain additions need local authority planning permissions and approval in compliance with building regulations. Certain areas are designated conservation areas and special planning restrictions apply which often prevent or affect extensions. You should check these things with a surveyor prior to committing yourself to a purchase.
I am buying a property in Townhill. An unusual aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. RBS have issued a mortgage offer so presumably this is not a concern to them. Why is my solicitor raising questions about the panel?
Given that you are obtaining a mortgage with RBS your lawyer must comply with the conveyancing instructions set out in Part two of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for RBS. The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook sets out minimum conditions for solar panel roof-space leases, and conveyancing practitioners are required to report to RBS where a lease does not comply with these conditions. The requirements relate to the installation of panels on properties nationwide and is not isolated to Townhill.
I have paid off my mortgage with Yorkshire BS. I assume I don't need a Townhill solicitor on the Yorkshire BS panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.
If you have finished paying off your Yorkshire BS 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 Yorkshire BS mortgage from the register. Yorkshire BS, 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 Yorkshire BS has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Yorkshire BS has instructed the Land Registry to do so
My wife and I are close to exchanging contracts on the sale of our home in Townhill and according to the buyers it appears that there is a possibility that the property was constructed on contaminated land. A local conveyancer would know this is not the case. It does beg the question why the purchasers used a web based conveyancing firm as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Townhill. We have lived in Townhill for 5 years we know of no issue. Should we contact our local Authority to get clarification that there is no issue.
It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing solicitor currently acting for you. Are they able to advise? You should check with your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out life insurance to cover that same illness)
I have been pointed in your direction by three or four local property agents in Townhill to get a quote from a solicitor on your site. Is there a financial incentive for Estate Agents to recommend your services rather than a competitor’s?
We don’t give any referral fee for sending work to this site. We found it would be just too difficult a fee because home movers will think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I getting any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.