My husband and I are looking to buy a flat in Whiteley and have instructed a Whiteley conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Virgin Money have this evening contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Whiteley solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
If you are buying a property requiring a mortgage 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 property lawyer 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 solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Whiteley lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
My aunt passed away 10 months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the property in Whiteley. The house had a small mortgage left on it of around £4500. I want to have the title changed into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Bank of Ireland, pay off the mortgage. Is this allowed?
If you intend to re-mortgage then Bank of Ireland will insist on your using a conveyancer on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the Bank of Ireland mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
I have been told by my solicitor that chancel insurance is needed on my purchase. What is the level of cover for Whiteley conveyancing?
The right level of chancel indemnity insurance depends on who your lender is. It would differ for example between Yorkshire Building Society and Virgin Money. Conveyancing lawyers as opposed to borrowers take out such policies.
I have paid off my mortgage with Skipton. I assume I don't need a Whiteley property lawyer on the Skipton panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your Skipton 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 Skipton mortgage from the register. Skipton, 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 Skipton has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Skipton has instructed the Land Registry to do so
I was told four weeks ago that my mortgage has been agreed to by Aldermore. Is it usual for Aldermore to only issue the offer once my solicitor in Whiteley is approved on their conveyancing panel? Aldermore have asked my solicitor to see a copy of their Professional Indemnity Insurance Schedule.
Mortgage companies tend not to not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Aldermore to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Aldermore conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
What will a local search reveal concerning the house we're purchasing in Whiteley?
Whiteley conveyancing often starts with the applying for local authority searches directly from your local Authority or through a personal search company for example PSG The local search plays an important role in many a Whiteley conveyancing purchase; that is if you wish to avoid any nasty surprises after you move into your property. The search will reveal 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 topic areas.
I used Wolstenholmes several years ago for my conveyancing in Whiteley. Now, I need my files however the law firm has closed. What do I do?
You should call 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 Whiteley of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously hired, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
About to purchase a new build apartment in Whiteley. Conveyancing is daunting at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build conveyancing.
Here are examples of a few leasehold new build enquiries that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Whiteley
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Investor purchasers must be able to freely grant unsecured tenancies at market rents without requiring any consents. There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants. Please supply evidence that the form of Lease proposed has been approved by the Land Registry. The Landlord must covenant to assume the management if the Management Company goes into liquidation or otherwise defaults in running the management scheme. Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease.