My husband and I are planning to buy a property in Whitby and are in fact using a Whitby conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Bank of Scotland have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Whitby solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for the purchaser's lender. 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 bank 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 and you may continue to use your own Whitby solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
I require conveyancing for a flat in a fairly new development (five years built) in Whitby. Almost all the flats have already been occupied. Is it really necessary to order neighbourhood searches for my conveyancing in Whitby?
If you are acquiring a property with the assistance of a mortgage, your bank will need some (many) of the searches so you'll have no choice. If not, then Whitby conveyancing searches are for you to decide upon. Your solicitor, will 'advise', perhaps strongly, that you should not go ahead without searches, but he or she has a professional duty to do this. One thing to bear in mind; if you are likely to sell the house one day, it may be of interest to your future buyer what the searches contain. Sometimes houses with no practical issues can still throw up adverse search results. But if you choose to instruct your lawyer to proceed without searches then your lawyer will have to follow your instructions or ask you to appoint a different lawyer for your conveyancing in Whitby.
My Solicitor in Whitby is not listed on the Bank of Scotland Approved Panel. Can I still retain my prefered solicitor even though they are not on the Bank of Scotland list of approved lawyers?
The limited options open to you here include:
- Complete the purchase with your existing Whitby lawyers but Bank of Scotland will need to retain a conveyancer on their panel. This will inevitably rack up the total conveyancing fees and cause frustration.
- Get a new practitioner to to deal with the purchase, obviously checking they are on the Bank of Scotland panel
I am aiming to move home in July. Does my conveyancing solicitor liaise with the removal company on the completion day. On a separate note, can you put forward a removal company in Whitby. Conveyancing firm was chosen prior to coming across this website.
On the afternoon of completion you will need to collect the keys from the property agent but this can only take place when the previous owners solicitors advise the agent that they acknowledge receipt of the completion payment and the keys can be collected. You can tell the removal company that they can start moving you in. We do not suggest a particular removal organisation but can help you choose a conveyancing in Whitby or a solicitor that specialises in conveyancing in Whitby.
I am purchasing a end of terrace house in Whitby. We would like to carry out an extension to the side at the house.Will the conveyancing process include checks to see if these alterations are allowed?
Your conveyancer will review the registered title as conveyancing in Whitby can occasionally identify restrictions in the title deeds which prevent categories of alterations or necessitated the consent of another owner. Certain works require local authority planning consent and approval in accordance building regulations. Certain areas are designated conservation areas and special planning restrictions apply which frequently prevent or impact extensions. You should check these issues with a surveyor prior to committing yourself to a purchase.
After months of negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Whitby. My mortgage broker suggested a conveyancer. I paid an advanced payment of £150. Soon after, the lawyer contacted me to say that they were not on the Barclays conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Barclays panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
Should I choose a Whitby conveyancing practitioner in close proximity to the house I am hoping to buy? We have a good friend who can execute the legal formalities however his firm is located 200kilometers away.
The primary upside of using a high street Whitby conveyancing firm is that you can drop in to execute paperwork, hand in your ID and pester them if necessary. They will also have local insight which is a bonus. However nothing is more important than finding someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If if people you trust used your friend and the majority were content that should surpass using an unfamiliar Whitby conveyancing lawyer solely due to them being based in the area.
I've found a house that appears to be perfect, at a reasonable figure which is making it all the more appealing. I have just been informed that it's a leasehold as opposed to freehold. I am assuming that there are issues purchasing a leasehold house in Whitby. Conveyancing lawyers have are soon to be appointed. Will they explain the issues?
Most houses in Whitby are freehold and not leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local solicitor used to dealing with such properties who can assist with the conveyancing process. it is apparent that you are purchasing in Whitby in which case you should be shopping around for a Whitby conveyancing solicitor and be sure that they have experience in dealing with leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the unexpired lease term. Being a tenant you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want to the property. The lease comes with conditions such as requiring the landlord’spermission to carry out changes to the property. You may also be required to pay a maintenance charge towards the maintenance of the communal areas where the property is part of an estate. Your lawyer will report to you on the legal implications.
I own a garden flat in Whitby, conveyancing was carried out 3 years ago. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Corresponding properties in Whitby with a long lease are worth £185,000. The ground rent is £65 charged once a year. The lease expires on 21st October 2084
With just 60 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £20,000 and £23,000 plus costs.
The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more detailed due diligence. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.