My husband and I are buying a 1 bedroom flat in Barnes with a mortgage. We wish to retain our Barnes conveyancer, but the lender advise he's not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the mortgage company panel firms or retain our Barnes property lawyer as well as pay for one of their panel lawyers to represent them. This feels very unfair; are we not able to require that the mortgage company use our Barnes conveyancing practitioner ?
Unfortunately,no. The mortgage offered to you 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. Another option that might be available is for your Barnes conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
How up to date is your database of Barnes solicitors on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel? Do Coventry BS send you an updated list?
Barnes conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Coventry BS directly.
Is it necessary during the course of the conveyancing process to pop into the offices of the solicitor to sign the mortgage deed? If so, I will instruct a firm who offer conveyancing in Barnes so that I can pop in to their offices if necessary.
Nowadays conveyancing panel lawyers for mortgage companies conduct the vast majority of communications via Royal Mail, e-mail or over phone calls. This enables them to carry out the legal work for your home move no matter where you live in England or Wales. Nevertheless you should see if you have the option of visiting the offices of your conveyancing lawyer if just in case this is required.
I completed on my apartment on 8 April and my personal details is yet to be registered. Need I be worried? My conveyancing solicitor in Barnes advises it would be recorded in a couple of weeks. Are titles in Barnes particularly slow to register?
As far as conveyancing in Barnes is concerned, registration is no faster or slower than the rest of England and Wales. As opposed to being determined by geographic area, timeframes can vary depending on the party submitting the application, whether it is in order and if the Land registry have to notify any 3rd persons or bodies. At present roughly three quarters of such applications are fully addressed within two weeks but occasionally there can be extensive hold-ups. Registration occurs once the purchaser is living at the premises thus 'speed' is not usually primary concern but if there is a degree of urgency associated with the registration then you or your conveyancer could communicate with the Registry to express the reasoning for the application to be prioritised.
Due to the advice of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Barnes before appointing lawyers. I have been told that there is a flying freehold element to the property. Our surveyor advised that some mortgage companies tend refuse to grant a mortgage on a flying freehold house.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Santander has different instructions for example to Birmingham Midshires. If you call us we can look into this further with the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Barnes. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Barnes especially if they are accustomed to such properties in Barnes.
We're new to the buying process - had an offer accepted, but the agent told us that the vendor will only go ahead if we instruct their chosen solicitors as they are insisting on an ‘expedited deal’. My instinct tells me that we should use a high street solicitor used to conveyancing in Barnes
We suspect that the seller is not behind this request. Should the vendor desire ‘a quick sale', turning down a motivated buyer is counter productive. Try to communicate with the owners directly and explain that (a)you are keen to buy (b)you are ready to progress, with mortgage lined up © you do not need to sell (d) you intend to proceed fast (e)but you intend to use your preferred Barnes conveyancing solicitors - not the ones that will earn their estate agent a introducer fee or achieve conveyancing thresholds demanded by head office.