I am in the process of selling my home in Willesden and the estate agent has just text me to say that the purchasers are changing their solicitor. The excuse is that the mortgage company will only deal with solicitors on their conveyancing panel. On what basis would a leading lender only work with specific solicitors rather the firm that they want to choose to handle their conveyancing in Willesden ?
Lenders have always had panels of law firms that can act for them, but in recent years big names such as Nationwide, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have acted for them for decades.
Mortgage companies point to the increase in fraud by way of justification for the reduction – criteria have been stiffened as a smaller panel is easier to maintain. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. Your purchasers are not going to have any impact on this.
When can the exchange of contracts take place for domestic conveyancing in Willesden and do I need to be at the solicitors branch?
Where you are local to our conveyancing solicitors in Willesden you are invited in to sign documents. That being said, the firms we recommend offer countrywide coverage for conveyancing and provide as equally detailed and professional a job for you when communicating with you by post or email. The signing of the contract is not the point of no return. A signed contract is just a prerequisite for the solicitor to officially exchange when the time is right, which is ordinarily shortly after signing. The exchange process is is usually a five minute process, although where an extended "chain" is in play, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Willesden)to be in the office at the appropriate time.
We are selling our house in Willesden. Will my lawyer need to be required to be on the Co-operative conveyancing panel in order to deal with repayment of my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Co-operative conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their specifications fairly frequently in recent years.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I have offered on last month in what was supposed to be a simple, no chain conveyancing. Willesden is the location of the property. Can you shed any light on this issue?
Flying freeholds in Willesden are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Willesden you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds very carefully. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Willesden may ascertain that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold premises.
Hoping to buy a property located in Willesden and I am already nervous. I couldn't find anything specific about Willesden. Conveyancing will be needed in due course but do you know about the Willesden area? or perhaps some other tips you can share?
Rather than looking online forget looking online you should go and have a look at Willesden. In the meantime here are some basic statistics that we found
My folks are experiencing difficulties in finding their Willesden property on the HM Land Registry online search facility. They recall that back in the 60’s when they bought the bungalow there were complications with the post code not being recognised in some systems.
The vast majority of residences in Willesden should appear. Have you tried a search to simply the postcode. Normally it should reveal all the residences inside that postcode. Assuming the property is recorded it will be there with a title number. If they bought back in the 60’s it's conceivable it may be unregistered. The property may still be revealed but with the title number shown 'na'. In this scenario you will need to locate the original title deeds which might be with your parent’s bank.