My husband and I are hoping to acquire a house in Higham Wood and are in fact using a Higham Wood conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Birmingham Midshires have this morning contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Higham Wood solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is conventional 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 bank 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 are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Higham Wood solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Can conveyancing in Higham Wood to be done in 28 days?
First, If you are under pressure to sign contracts we would recommend that your solicitor is familiar with the location as they will have local relationships and insight. It is possible that they would have handled previoushomes in the same road. You would be best advised to use a Higham Wood conveyancing lawyer. Second, double check that the conveyancing firm is on the lender panel. It is estimated that just under twenty per cent of Higham Wood conveyancing transactions are frustrated or jeopardised after finding out that a purchaser’s lawyer was not on their mortgage lender’s member panel. This can often result in the legal transfer of property being frustrated by almost three weeks. It is said that this issue impacts approximately 100,000 home sales annually. Most Higham Wood conveyancing firms can not act for certain mortgage companies so do check at the outset.
I have recentlybeen informed that Action Conveyancing have closed. They conducted my conveyancing in Higham Wood for a purchase of a leasehold flat 9 months ago. How can I be sure that my home is registered correctly in the name of the former proprietor?
The quickest way to check if the property is in your name, you can make a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Higham Wood conveyancing specialists.
I have been on the look out for a ground for flat up to £245,000 and found one round the corner in Higham Wood I like with amenity areas and station in the vicinity, however it's only got 52 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Higham Wood for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake buying a lease with such few years left?
Should you require a mortgage the remaining unexpired lease term may be problematic. Reduce the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing proprietor has owned the premises for a minimum of 2 years you may ask them to start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer concerning this matter.
My uncle has urged me to instruct his lawyers for conveyancing in Higham Wood. Should I use them?
There are no two ways about it the best way to find a conveyancing lawyer is to have referrals from friends or family who have actually used the firm you're considering.
Having used your search tool I can't find the lawyer I was hoping to instruct as being on the mortgage company conveyancing panel. My lawyer has said that they are on the bank approved panel. How can I be sure given that they are not listed on your directory?
Not all firms are yet listed on our lender panel search tool which is still relatively new. Law firms are listing on a daily basis and it is probably the case that your lawyer is on the mortgage company conveyancing lawyer and you should probably take them at their word. Please do feel free to suggest that they completing their listing on our site as it would only cost them £1 a month to list themselves as being on the lender solicitor panel.