My wife and I are looking to buy a house in Warwick and have appointed a Warwick conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. HSBC Bank have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Warwick conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for 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 solicitor 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 are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Warwick solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
My nephew is buying a new build apartment in Warwick with a home loan from Leeds Building Society. His lawyer has advised him of a delay in completing the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. Who needs to receive the form?
The form is intended to provide information to the main parties engaged in the purchase. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the valuer when requested. The developer will be required to start the process by downloading the form and completing it. The form will therefore need to be available for the valuer at the time of his or her site visit. The form should be sent to the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.
When will exchange of contracts occur in residential conveyancing in Warwick and do I need to attend the solicitors office?
If you are round the corner to our conveyancing solicitors in Warwick you are welcome to come in to sign documents. However, the law practices we work with provide countrywide coverage for conveyancing and give as equally comprehensive and professional a job for you when communicating with you by post or email. The executing of the contract is not the important part. A signed contract simply enables the firm to exchange contracts when the time is right, which is ordinarily shortly after signing. The exchange process is is usually a five minute process, although where an extended "chain" is in the mix, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Warwick)to be in the office at the appropriate time.
My lawyer has informed me that lack of planning permission insurance is needed on my purchase. What is the level of cover for Warwick conveyancing?
The right level of lack of planning permission indemnity insurance should be dictated by who your lender. It would differ for example between Yorkshire Building Society and Skipton Building Society. Conveyancing practitioners as opposed to members of the public take out such policies.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Co-operative. I assume I don't need a Warwick solicitor on the Co-operative panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your Co-operative 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 Co-operative mortgage from the register. Co-operative, 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 Co-operative has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Co-operative has instructed the Land Registry to do so
I am due to exchange contracts on my flat. I had a double glazing fitted in February 2008, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My buyer's mortgage company, Nationwide are being pedantic. The Warwick solicitor who is on the Nationwide conveyancing panel is recommending indemnity insurance as a solution but Nationwide are insisting on a building regulation certificate. Why do Nationwide have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?
It is probably the case that Nationwide have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why Nationwide may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing was correctly and safely installed. The indemnity insurance merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I put an offer in last month in what should have been a simple, chain free conveyancing. Warwick is the location of the property. Can you offer any opinion?
Flying freeholds in Warwick are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Warwick you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds thoroughly. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Warwick may determine 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 property.
Is it best to choose a Warwick conveyancing lawyer in close proximity to the house I am purchasing? We have a good friend who can deal with the conveyancing but her office is approximately 350kilometers drive away.
The benefit of a high street Warwick conveyancing practice is that you can attend the office to execute paperwork, hand in your ID and pester them where appropriate. Having local Warwick know how is a bonus. However it's more important to get someone that will do a good and efficient job. If you know people who instructed your friend and in the main were impressed that must outweigh using an unknown Warwick conveyancing solicitor solely due to them being local.