My fiance and I are hoping to buy a house in Bryn Y Baal and have appointed a Bryn Y Baal conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Halifax have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Bryn Y Baal lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent 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 solicitor 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 are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Bryn Y Baal 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.
In what way does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in Bryn Y Baal? What am I being asked for?
It is indeed that case that the requirement set out by your lawyer has nothing to do with conveyancing in Bryn Y Baal. However these days you will not be able to proceed with any conveyancing transaction in the absence handing over proof of your identity. This usually takes the form of a either your passport or driving licence as well as a council tax bill. Remember if you are supplying your driving licence as evidence of identification it needs to be both the paper part as well as the photo card part, one is not sufficient in the absence of the other.
Evidence of the source of money is necessary under Money Laundering Regulations. You should not be offended when when this is requested of you as your conveyancer will need to retain this information on file. Your Bryn Y Baal conveyancing lawyer will need to see evidence of proof of funds prior to accepting any funds from you into their client account and they should also ask further queries regarding the source of funds.
Me and my partner are purchasing a flat in Bryn Y Baal. I might seem paranoid but how we can trust a lawyer? At some point we have to send 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.
There are numerous conveyancing solicitors in Bryn Y Baal but how do I know who I should use?
It would be unwise to be swayed by the cheapest Bryn Y Baal conveyancing costs illustration. You really do get what you pay for when it comes to property lawyers. A cheap quote may mean that the conveyancing solicitor is handling a lot of jobs at one time and you won’t get the quality of service and the attention that you need. It is, however, wise to use a conveyancer who has a fixed fee on a no sale, no fee basis. This way, you know exactly what you’ll have to pay in advance.
We have agreed to purchase a house in Bryn Y Baal. One unusual aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Lloyds have issued a mortgage offer so presumably this is not a concern to them. Why is my solicitor raising questions about the panel?
Given that your lender is Lloyds your lawyer must check the conveyancing instructions outlined in Part 2 of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Lloyds. The CML Handbook stipulates minimum conditions for solar panel roof-space leases, and conveyancing practitioners are required to report to Lloyds where a lease fails to meet these conditions. The conditions relate to the installation of panels on properties in England and Wales and is not restricted to Bryn Y Baal.
I used Action Conveyancing several years ago for my conveyancing in Bryn Y Baal. Now, I need the documents but cannot find the solicitor. What do I do?
Do call the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Bryn Y Baal of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously hired, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I put an offer in a fortnight ago in what should have been a simple, no chain conveyancing. Bryn Y Baal is the location of the property. Can you shed any light on this issue?
Flying freeholds in Bryn Y Baal are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Bryn Y Baal you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds very carefully. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Bryn Y Baal 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.
Our lawyer in Bryn Y Baal has identified a a problem with the lease for the flat we are purchasing in Bryn Y Baal. The other side have offered title insurance as a solution. We are happy with insurance and will pay for it. Our solicitor has advised that as he is on the mortgage company conveyancing panel he must be satisfied that the lender is happy with this solution. Are we the client or is the mortgage company?
The short answer to your last question is that, notwithstanding the potential for a conflict of interest, you and the bank are the client. A precondition to being on the mortgage company approved panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions require your lawyer to disclose issues such as defects will the lease so that the bank can be afforded the opportunity to check with their valuer as to the extent that the value of the property is affected . Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your lawyer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for you.