My husband and I are planning to buy a flat in Borth and have appointed a Borth conveyancing practice. 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. Godiva Mortgages Ltd have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Borth 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 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 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 lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Borth solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Is it realistic for conveyancing in Borth to be finalised inside 10 days?
Where the seller is applying pressure to complete it is highly recommended that your solicitor is familiar with the area as they will benefit local connections and know-how. It is even conceivable that they may have conducted previoushomes in the same road. You would be best advised to use a Borth conveyancing firm. Second, double check that the lawyer is on the member panel. It is claimed that just under twenty per cent of Borth conveyancing deals are suspended or jeopardised after finding out that a purchaser’s conveyancer was not on their banks panel. This can often result in the transaction being frustrated by almost 21 days. It is understood that this issue impacts in the region of one hundred thousand home moves every year. Many Borth conveyancing firms can not represent certain lenders so do check at the outset.
We wanted to use a property lawyer in Borth for our home move. Our financial adviser informed us that our bank Nottingham Building Society won't deal with them. Why is this not regarded as unfair competition?
Lenders normally restrict either the category or the volume of conveyancing firms on their member panel. A common example of such restriction(s) being that a law practice must not be a sole practitioner. In addition to restricting the profile of firm, some have reduced the amount of solicitor practices they allow to act for them. You should note that Nottingham Building Society have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any member of Nottingham Building Society Conveyancer Panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the reduction of conveyancing panels a few years ago even though there are mixed opinions concerning the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Data from the Land Registry indicate that thousands of law firms, including some in or near Borth only execute very few conveyances a year.
My wife and I are purchasing a house in Borth. It might be a silly question but how we can trust a solicitor? At some point we have to deposit our life savings into their account. What protection do we have from them run away with our monies?
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.
We were going to get a OIP from Clydesdale this week so we know how much we could potentially offer as otherwise we only have online calculators to go by (which aren't taking into account credit checks etc). Do Clydesdale recommend any Borth solicitors on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel, or is it better to find our own lawyer?
You will need to appoint Borth solicitors independently although you'll need to choose one on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel. The solicitor represents both you and Clydesdale through the process.
I've read lots of house buying guides, I note that it is considered advisable to get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Borth solicitor - who is on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. Is that normal?
Kent Reliance will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Kent Reliance will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own Borth surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I have offered on a fortnight ago in what should have been a straight forward, chain free conveyancing. Borth is where the house is located. Can you shed any light on this issue?
Flying freeholds in Borth are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Borth you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds very carefully. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Borth may ascertain that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.
My husband and I are a couple of weeks into a leasehold purchase having been directed to a firm by the estate agent to carry out the conveyancing in Borth. I am not happy. Could you you assist me in finding new solicitors?
They would need to be really poor to suggest diss instructing them. Has the mortgage offer been generated? In the event that it has you must make them aware of the new lawyer and get the offer are re-issued. The conveyancer should be on the banks approved list to avoid supplemental charges and complications. That should be your starting point. Our find a solicitor tool can assist you in finding a bank approved conveyancer for your home move in Borth