My wife and I are looking to purchase a house in Berkeley and have appointed a Berkeley conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Clydesdale have this evening contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Berkeley conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is usual 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 Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your lender 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Berkeley solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
What will a local search inform me concerning the property we're purchasing in Berkeley?
Berkeley conveyancing often starts with the ordering local authority searches directly from your local Authority or via a personal search organisations for example PSG The local search plays an important role in most Berkeley conveyancing purchase; that is if you wish to avoid any unpleasant once you have moved into your new home. The search will reveal data on, amongst other things, details on planning applications applicable to the property (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of 13 topic areas.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £235,500 and identified one close by in Berkeley I like with a park and transport links nearby, the downside is that it only has 61 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Berkeley in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a lease with such few years left?
Should you need a home loan the shortness of the lease will be problematic. Discount the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current owner has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you may request that they commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer regarding this matter.
Are there any apps to assist me to search for a Berkeley law firm on the Alliance & Leicester conveyancing panel? I have wheels and am willing to travel upto 20kilometers to meet the lawyer.
Feel free to make use of the search on this website. Please select a lender and your location and you will see a number of Berkeley conveyancing lawyers located nearest you. We have detailed some Berkeley conveyancing firms towards the end of this page and you can call them to see whether they are on the Alliance & Leicester member panel
I am four weeks into a residential purchase having been recommend to conveyancers by the high street agent to handle our conveyancing in Berkeley. I am am extremely frustrated with the quality of service. Could you you assist me in finding new lawyers?
A conveyancer would need to be very bad to suggest diss instructing them. Has your loan offer been issued? In the event that it has you must advise them of the new solicitor and get the offer are issued to the new lawyers. Your solicitor ideally needs to be on the banks approved list to avoid supplemental charges and complications. So that should be your starting point. Our find a solicitor tool will assist you in finding a bank approved solicitor for your home move in Berkeley
A conveyancing firm dealt with my conveyancing in Berkeley half a dozen years past and was holding my registration certificates but has now closed – how do I get hold of these?
Title deeds, as such, are no longer appropriate for the majority of homes in Berkeley are recorded digitally at Land Registry. If you need to prove evidence of proprietorship or are disposing of or refinancing your solicitor will need to obtain up to date copies of the register from the Land Registry in any case.
If you feel there may be other documents or you have any other queries please e-mail your request with details of the transaction and documents you need to filerequest@clc-uk.org. The CLC will let you know what information they have and any additional information they may need before they are in a position to identify and send the documents to you. Following an intervention it may take some time for the CLC to access archived files and documents, but your request will be actioned with reasonable haste.