Me and my fiance are buying a 2 bedroom apartment in Balham with a mortgage. We have a Balham conveyancer, but the mortgage company says he's not on their "panel". It seems we have no choice but to select one of the lender panel firms or retain our Balham conveyancing practitioner as well as pay for one of their panel firms to act for them. This seems very unfair; can we not demand that the bank use our Balham lawyer ?
Unfortunately,no. Your mortgage offer is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the lender’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your Balham conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
At what point will exchange of contracts happen for sale conveyancing in Balham and do I need to attend the lawyers office?
If you are in close proximity to our conveyancing solicitors in Balham you are invited in to sign documents. However, the firms we recommend provide a national conveyancing service and give just as comprehensive and professional a job for you when communicating with you digitally. The executing of the purchase agreement is not the critical part. A signed contract simply enables the solicitor to officially exchange at the appropriate time, which will usually be very shortly after signing. The procedure is nowadays normally dealt with by telephone and can be very rapid, although where a lengthy "chain" is in the mix, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Balham)to be in the office available at the end of the phone to exchange contracts.
My wife and I are buying a flat in Balham. It might be a silly question but how we can trust a solicitor? On the day of competition we have to deposit funds into their account. What is the protection we have from them run away with our money?
Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.
Last month we had a mortgage agreed in principle with Nottingham. Balham conveyancing practitioners have been selected. What is the average time that one could expect to receive a mortgage offer from Nottingham?
Some lenders take longer than others. Have Nottingham done the survey? Have you informed Nottingham as to your lawyers' details and checked that your lawyers are on the Nottingham conveyancing panel? Sometimes it can take as long as six weeks for a mortgage offer to be issued.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Clydesdale. I assume I don't need a Balham solicitor on the Clydesdale panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.
If you have finished paying off your Clydesdale 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 Clydesdale mortgage from the register. Clydesdale, 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 Clydesdale has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Clydesdale has instructed the Land Registry to do so
I need some expedited conveyancing in Balham as I am under a deadline to complete within 4 weeks. A mortgage is not required. Is it possible to avoid the conveyancing searches to save fees and time?
If.Given you are not taking a mortgage you have the choice not to do searches although no solicitor would advise that you don't. With plenty of history conveyancing in Balham the following are instances of issues that can be revealed and therefore affect future mortgageability: Enforcement Actions, Outstanding Fees, Overdue Grants, Railway Schemes,...
Are there any apps to help locate a Balham solicitor on the Britannia conveyancing panel? I have a car and am prepared to travel upto 10miles to meet the solicitor.
You can use the tool on this website. Please select a lender and your location and you will see a number of Balham conveyancing lawyers locally. We have detailed some Balham conveyancing firms at the bottom of this page and you can ring them to see whether they are on the Britannia member panel
What do I do if I am not happy with the property lawyer who did our conveyancing in Balham?
We live in an imperfect world, and is is a fact of life that every so often matters do not go as planned. However there is recourse if you were unhappy with your conveyancing in Balham. This varies from trying to resolve matters directly with them, through to reporting a conveyancer to their governing body. If things still aren’t sorted out you may consider enlisting the help of the Legal Ombudsman.