Me and my wife are purchasing a maisonette in Washington. My Solicitor is not on the bank conveyancing panel. Am I still permitted to appoint my Washington conveyancing solicitor even though they are not on the bank approved list?
Your options include
- Carry on with your existing Washington lawyer but your bank will undoubtedly appoint a lawyer from their approved panel. This will result in additional charges and likely frustration.
- Choose a new lawyer to act in the purchase, ensuring that they are on the bank conveyancing panel.
- Convince your lawyer to do everything within their powers to join the mortgage company conveyancing panel
I have given 8 weeks notice to my existing landlord and have to vacate my rented flat in Washington by the end of next month. Conveyancing for my house purchase has just started. Is it possible to complete in 5 weeks as don't want to have to move into short term accommodation?
Generally one should not serve notice on a rental unless exchange of contracts has taken place. If you have not previously done so, update to your lawyer and request that they seek the assistance the other lawyers, try to a target completion date that everyone will aim towards
Are the Washington conveyancing solicitors identified as being on the Principality conveyancing panel, together with their details provided by Principality?
Washington conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Principality conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Principality directly.
I have recentlybecome aware that Wolstenholmes have been shut down. They conducted my conveyancing in Washington for a purchase of a leasehold apartment 10 months ago. How can I check that the property is not still registered in the name of the previous owner?
The quickest way to check if the property is in your name, you can carry out a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Washington conveyancing specialists.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £245,000 and found one round the corner in Washington I like with amenity areas and station nearby, the downside is that it's only got 52 years on the lease. There is not much else in Washington for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a short lease?
Should you need a home loan the shortness of the lease will likely be a potential deal breaker. Discount the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for at least 2 years you could request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor regarding this.
My nephew is about to join the property ladder, the home loan was agreed last week in principle. When the offer was accepted on apartment we rang the mortgage company to issue the formal offer. We were shocked to hear that mortgage companies do not accept all property lawyer, they have to be on a list, is this correct?
Lenders normally restrict either the type or the number of conveyancing practices on their approved list of lawyers. Typical examples of such restriction(s) being that a firm must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some have decided to limit the number of firms they use to represent them. You should note that banks have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any Washington property lawyer on their panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of conveyancing panels a few years ago and whilst there are differing views about the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms only carry out one or two conveyances a year. Those supporting conveyancing panel cuts ask why law firms should have the right to be on a Lender panel when clearly, conveyancing is not their speciality. To put it another way; would you want a conveyancing solicitor to represent you if you were charged with a crime? Presumably not.