My husband and I are looking to purchase a property in Cheetham Hill and have appointed a Cheetham Hill conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Chelsea Building Society have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Cheetham Hill conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is conventional 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Cheetham Hill solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters 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 Cheetham Hill? Why is this being asked of me?
In order to comply with Money Laundering Regulations any Cheetham Hill conveyancing firm will require evidence of your identity in all conveyancing transactions. This is normally satisfied by provision of a passport and an original bank statement or utility account showing where you reside.
Under Money Laundering Regulations, conveyancers are duty bound to check not simply the ID of conveyancing clients but also the source of monies that they receive in respect of any matter. Refusal to disclose this will lead to your conveyancer cancelling their retainer with you, as clearly this will cause a conflict between the set Regulations and a refusal to disclose.
Your property lawyers are duty bound to make a disclosure to the appropriate authorities should they believe that any monies received by them may contravene the Money Laundering Regulations.
My Solicitor in Cheetham Hill has never been on on the Godiva Mortgages Ltd Conveyancing Panel. Is it possible for me to continue with my prefered solicitor notwithstanding that they are excluded from the Godiva Mortgages Ltd panel?
Your options are as follows:
- Carry on with your existing Cheetham Hill lawyers but Godiva Mortgages Ltd will need to use a solicitor on their panel. This will result in additional overall conveyancing charges and cause frustration.
- Find an alternative practitioner to to deal with the purchase, not forgetting to check they are Godiva Mortgages Ltd approved.
- Try to convince your Godiva Mortgages Ltd based solicitor to try to join the Godiva Mortgages Ltd panel
I am assisting my mother sell her house in Cheetham Hill. Does the solicitor commission an energy performance certificate or do I organise this?
After the demise of Home Information Packs, energy performance certificates remained a required component of selling a house. An energy assessment should be to hand prior to the property being advertised. It is not as aspect of the sale process that solicitors ordinarily arrange. If you are using a Cheetham Hill conveyancing solicitor they may help arrange energy assessments given their relationships with long established local accredited person
It is not clear whether my lender obliges me to make sure the lease term for the flat is extended prior to the completion date. I have called my Cheetham Hill bank branch on various occasions and was advised it wasn't an issue and they will lend. My Cheetham Hill conveyancing solicitor - who is on the bank conveyancing panel- called and was told they would not lend in accordance with their specific requirements. Who do I believe?
The conveyancing practitioner must follow the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook section two provisions for your lender. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that the mortgage company will go ahead, your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask the mortgage company to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the number of years remaining.
About to purchase apartment in Cheetham Hill. I have received an online quote from a licenced conveyancer, which states: "There will be no charge for dealing with the Lender if you are obtaining a mortgage". I take this to mean that there will be no additional fee if the solicitor is on the Skipton conveyancing panel. I wanted to make sure it means there will be no additional fees for dealing with the mortgage.
They are simply saying that the cost for acting for the lender is included in the fee being quoted. It is worth you checking that the Cheetham Hill property lawyer is on the Skipton conveyancing panel.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £305k and identified one near me in Cheetham Hill I like with a park and transport links nearby, the downside is that it's only got 49 remaining years left on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Cheetham Hill in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a short lease?
If you need a home loan that many years will be an issue. Reduce the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the existing proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you may ask them to start the process of the extension and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor about this.
We have been advised by various family members that it can take six to eight weeks for Cheetham Hill conveyancing to complete.This was 3 ago. The draft contract was only received to my conveyancer a couple of days ago so now does it countdown?
Don't rely on counting down any 6-8 week suggested period. Addressing precisely how how many weeks Cheetham Hill conveyancing will take is virtually impossible. Without fail every conveyance will have it’s bespoke set of complexities. As a result your conveyancer should find it difficult to accurately predict how long it will take to complete conveyancing in Cheetham Hill.