My husband and I are planning to buy a flat in Canterbury and have appointed a Canterbury conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. The Royal Bank of Scotland have this morning contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Canterbury conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
If you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' lawyers 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 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 bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Canterbury lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Various online forums that I have come across warn that are a common cause of obstruction in Canterbury house deals. Is that correct?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) released determinations of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not figure within the most frequent causes of hindrances in the conveyancing process. Searches are unlikely to be the root cause of delay in conveyancing in Canterbury.
I used Stirling Law several years past for my conveyancing in Canterbury. Now, I need the files however cannot find the solicitor. What do I do?
You should contact 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 Canterbury 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.
How does conveyancing in Canterbury differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build or newly converted property in Canterbury come to us having been asked by the seller to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the house is constructed. This is because builders in Canterbury typically purchase the real estate, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are used to new build conveyancing in Canterbury or who has acted in the same development.
I'm remortgaging my current house to a buy to let loan with TSB and intend to use the remaining equity as a deposit on a second house. The location we are talking about is Canterbury. Will your lawyers be able to act for the two lenders and tie in the transactions?
Make use of our search tool on this site to ensure that the solicitors are approved by both mortgage companies. Assuming that they are your lawyer should be able to simultaneously deal with the two conveyancing matters but you should talk with you conveyancer and communicate your desired outcome and needs.
My 20yr old son is about to join the property ladder, the home loan was agreed last week in principle. After the seller agreed the offer on the house we called the lender to issue the formal offer. I was disappointed to discover that mortgage lenders do not accept all conveyancer, they must be on their panel, is this correct?
Mortgage Companies normally restrict either the type or the number of conveyancing practices on their panel. A common example of such restriction(s) being that a firm must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some have decided to limit the number of firms they use to represent them. You should note that lenders have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any Canterbury conveyancing practitioner on their panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of conveyancing panels a few years ago and whilst there are differing views about the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms only carry out one or two conveyances a year. Those supporting conveyancing panel cuts ask why law firms should have the right to be on a Lender panel when clearly, conveyancing is not their speciality. To put it another way; would you want a conveyancing solicitor to represent you if you were charged with a crime? Probably not.