My best friend’s step-father is a property lawyer. I expect that I will be offered friends and family rates for conveyancing, but if not, what kind of costs would I typically be looking at for conveyancing in Bartley Green?
It’s advisable to request 3 or more like-for-like conveyancing estimates. Make use of our comparison tool on this site. You will notice that estimates do contrast greatly but the service one can expect differ between solicitors as is the case with most professions.
The Bartley Green conveyancing lawyers that I recently instructed on my purchase in Bartley Green have without warning shut down. I chose them because I needed a firm on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel and my previous Bartley Green lawyer was not. I issued them a cheque for £250 in advance. What should be my next steps?
If you have an estate agent involved then let them know straight away so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers may be able to help.
I have been told that property searches are the primary reason for stalling in Bartley Green conveyancing transactions. Is that correct?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) published findings of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature within the top 10 causes of delays during the legal transfer of property. Searches are not likely to feature in any holding up conveyancing in Bartley Green.
Me and my brother have a terraced Victorian house in Bartley Green. Conveyancing lawyer represented me and Halifax. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw a couple of entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold under the matching address. I'd like to know for sure, how can I find out??
You should assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Bartley Green and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they remortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with purchasers. You can also question the position with your conveyancing solicitor who completed the work.
I opted to have a survey done on a house in Bartley Green in advance of retaining conveyancers. I have been told that there is a flying freehold overhang to the house. Our surveyor advised that some banks tend refuse to grant a mortgage on a flying freehold premises.
It varies from the lender to lender. Bank of Scotland has different instructions from Halifax. Should you wish to telephone us we can look into this further with the appropriate mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Bartley Green. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Bartley Green to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.
My father-in-law mentioned that when choosing a conveyancing lawyer they need approved by your bank. I am novice purchaser but I have an AIP from Santander and I already have a high street conveyancing solicitor in Bartley Green lined up. Does HSBC need an approved lawyer to be instructed? Does a list of panel solicitors even exist for my conveyancing in Bartley Green?
You need to choose a solicitor that is on the HSBC panel. Just telephone your chosen Bartley Green conveyancing lawyer and ask if they are on the HSBC panel. If they are not on the panel you have a number of choices available to you here:
- Complete the deal with your chosen Bartley Green solicitor but HSBC will need to retain a lawyer from their approved list. The net result is additional charges together with potential frustration.
- Get a fresh lawyer to conduct the conveyancing, obviously checking they are on the HSBC conveyancing panel.
- Appeal to your lawyer to seek to join the mortgage company panel.