My wife and I are hoping to purchase a property in Weymouth and have appointed a Weymouth conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Barnsley Building Society have this morning contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Weymouth conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is usual for the purchasers' solicitors 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 Accreditation 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Weymouth lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
As someone not used to the Weymouth conveyancing process what is the number one tip you can give me for the ownership transfer in Weymouth
You may not hear this from too many lawyers but conveyancing in Weymouth or throughout England and Wales is an adversarial experience. In other words, when it comes to conveyancing there exists plenty of room for friction between you and other parties involved in the ownership transfer. For example, the vendor, property agent and sometimes your bank. Appointing a law firm for your conveyancing in Weymouth should not be taken lightly as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the SOLE party in the legal process whose role it is to look after your legal interests and to protect you.
We are witnessing a definite ongoing adversarial element to conveyancing- someone must be at fault for the process being so protracted. You your first instinct should be to trust your conveyancer ahead of all other parties when it comes to the legal transfer of property.
Can you clarify what the consequences are if my solicitor is expelled from the Co-operative Conveyancing panel ahead of completing my conveyancing in Weymouth?
First, this is very unlikely to happen. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have to instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by a regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit at a cost.
What will a local search reveal about the house I am buying in Weymouth?
Weymouth conveyancing often commences with the applying for local authority searches directly from your local Authority or via a personal search organisations for example Onsearch The local search is essential in every Weymouth conveyancing purchase; as long as you wish to avoid any unpleasant once you have moved into your property. The search will supply information on, amongst other things, details on planning applications relevant to the property (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of thirteen subject areas.
I used Action Conveyancing several years ago for my conveyancing in Weymouth. Now, I need my documents however cannot find the solicitor. What do I do?
Do contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate 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 Weymouth of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously used, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a ground for flat up to £245,000 and identified one near me in Weymouth I like with open areas and railway links nearby, the downside is that it's only got 52 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Weymouth for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error buying a short lease?
Should you require a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term will be a potential deal breaker. Discount the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you can ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer about this matter.