I am one month into the sale of my house in Watford and the EA has just e-mailed to say that the purchasers are swapping solicitor. The excuse is that the lender will only engage with solicitors on their conveyancing panel. Why would a major mortgage company only engage with certain law firms rather the firm that they want to select for their conveyancing in Watford ?
UK lenders have always had an approved set of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the last few years big names such as Yorkshire Building Society, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for more than 15 years.
Lenders point to the increase in fraud by way of justification for the cull – criteria have been narrowed as a smaller panel is easier to keep an eye on. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms are unaware that they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. The buyers are unlikely to have any impact on this.
I am buying a house without a mortgage in Watford. I have lived for the previous 20 years in Watford. Conveyancing searches are exorbitant. Given that I have knowledge of the area and road very well should I not bother getting the solicitor to do all the conveyancing searches?
If you not getting a mortgage, then all but one or two of the Watford conveyancing searches are at your discretion. Your lawyer will try and steer you, perhaps strongly, that you should have searches done, but she is duty bound to do this. Do consider; if you are going to sell the house in the future, it will be of relevance to your prospective buyer what the searches contain. Sometimes properties with functional issues can still reveal detrimental search results. A good conveyancing solicitor in Watford will be able to give you some practical guidance here.
Are the Watford conveyancing solicitors identified as being on the Nottingham conveyancing panel, together with their details provided by Nottingham?
Watford conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Nottingham conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Nottingham directly.
We are expecting a mortgage offer soon. The lender mentioned the mortgage came with free conveyancing. Is the implication that I have to appoint their panel conveyancer as I would prefer to instruct a specialised conveyancing solicitor in Watford?
You should check but the chances are that allocate you one of their panel conveyancers where you want the "fee-free" deal. Contact the lender and determine if they offer you a cash alternative. In the past a few lenders offered a £250 cashback as an alternative in which case you could put that amount towards your preferred conveyancing solicitor in Watford.
I used Action Conveyancing several years ago for my conveyancing in Watford. Now, I need the files however cannot find the solicitor. What do I do?
Do call the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to assist in tracking down your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Watford of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously instructed, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
Fiveweeks into buying a residence in Watford. Conveyancing lawyer has told us the property is "Leasehold". Should this make a difference on our lender’s valuation?
Watford conveyancing does not normally involve leasehold houses. The crucial factor here is the length of lease and the ground rent. If it's 999 years with a nominal rent, it's essentially freehold, so it’s unlikely to affect the marketability too much.
At the other end of the spectrum, if it's, say, 50 years it will have a adverse effect on the saleability, and most likely wouldn't be mortgageable. The length of lease and ground rent will be stated in the lease provided to your lawyer.