Much to our surprise we have been notified by our broker that my Waterbeach solicitor is not on the mortgage company Conveyancing panel. What can I do to be sure that this is correct?
Your first step should be to contact your Waterbeach conveyancer. You lawyer should advise you of the situation. If they are not on the panel they may be able to suggest a Waterbeach conveyancing practice that is on the conveyancing panel for your lender.
We note that you have a post code search directory listing firms on the RBS conveyancing panel. Do firms pay you a referral fee if I appoint them for our conveyancing in Waterbeach?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the RBS conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint for your conveyancing in Waterbeach.
The Waterbeach conveyancing firm that I appointed last week on my house acquisition in Waterbeach have suddenly closed. They were on acting for me because I needed a solicitor on the Lloyds conveyancing panel and my preferred Waterbeach lawyer was not. I wrote them a cheque for £250 in advance. What are my options?
Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then let them know immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Lloyds 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 lawyers should be in a position to help.
When it comes to mortgage companies such as Virgin Money, do Waterbeach lawyers face an annual charge to be on the conveyancing panel?
We are unaware of any mortgage company 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 submission.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with RBS. I assume I don't need a Waterbeach conveyancer on the RBS panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your RBS 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 RBS mortgage from the register. RBS, 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 RBS has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- RBS has instructed the Land Registry to do so
I recently had an offer accepted on an apartment in Waterbeach. My financial adviser recommended their conveyancers. I paid an upfront payment of £225. A few days later, the solicitor called me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Nottingham conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Nottingham panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
A colleague suggested that if I am purchasing in Waterbeach I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is sometimes quoted for as part of the standard Waterbeach conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of about 40 pages, listing and setting out important information about Waterbeach around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Waterbeach Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, Waterbeach Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data about Waterbeach.
Taking into account that I am about to part with 450k on 3 bedroom house in Waterbeach I wish to have a conversation with the lawyer about myhouse move ahead of appointing the firm. Is this something that you can arrange?
We could not agree more - it is our preference to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you first talking to the lawyer due to be conducting your conveyancing in Waterbeach.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - every client is an important individual, not a case number. The practices that we put you in touch with believe that the fees you are calculated and presented to you for residential conveyancing in Waterbeach should be the figure that you end up paying.