I can't travel far from Chepstow. What is the rationale as to why all Chepstow property lawyers are not on all bank panels?
Banks normally impose restrictions on either the nature or volume of conveyancing practices on their approved list of lawyers. Typical examples of such restriction(s) being that a practice is required to have at least two partners. In addition to restricting the nature of firm, some lenders decided to restrict the number of organisations they permit to represent them. It is worth noting that building societies have no responsibility for the accuracy of conveyancing given by any Chepstow conveyancing practitioner on their panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the culling of conveyancing panels in the last decade even though there are conflicting assessments concerning whether solicitors sat at the center of that fraud. Statistics published by HMLR reveal that thousands of law organisations only carry out a couple of conveyances a year. Those advocating conveyancing panel culls ask why law firms should have any entitlement to be on a conveyancing panel when it is apparent that conveyancing is not their speciality?
It is is a decade since I purchased my property in Chepstow. Conveyancing lawyers have recently been retained on the sale but I can't find my deeds. Will this jeopardise the sale?
Don’t worry too much. First the deeds may be with your mortgage company or they could still be with the conveyancers who oversaw your purchase. Secondly in most cases the title will be recorded at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you are the registered owner by your conveyancing lawyers acquiring up to date copy of the land registers. Most conveyancing in Chepstow relates to registered property but in the rare situation where your home is unregistered it adds to the complexity but is resolvable.
Me and my partner are purchasing a house in Chepstow. It might be a silly question but how we can trust a conveyancer? At some point we have to send our life savings into their account. What protection do 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 plenty of conveyancing solicitors in Chepstow but how do I know who's good?
We would encourage you not to base your choice on the lowest Chepstow conveyancing fees. You really do get what you’re paying for when it comes to conveyancing solicitors. 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 go into the conveyancing with your eyes wide open.
Can you point me to a directory of Barclays panel solicitors in Chepstow on the Council of Mortgage Lender’s Website?
No. There is no such directory service on the Council of Mortgage Lenders or Building Society Association sites. Very few banks make their panel listings available online. Where you are looking for a Chepstow conveyancing practitioner on the Barclays please use our tool.
I am selling our house in Chepstow and according to the buyers it appears that there is a risk of it being built on contaminated land. A local conveyancer would know that there is no such problem. For the life of me I don't know why the purchasers instructed a national conveyancing practice as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Chepstow. Having lived in Chepstow for 4 years we know of no issue. Should we contact our local Authority to seek clarification that there is no issue.
It would appear that you have a conveyancing lawyer already. Are they able to advise? You must enquire of your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out life insurance to cover that same sickness)
I have a semi-detached Georgian house in Chepstow. Conveyancing practitioner represented me and Barclays Direct. I did a free Land Registry search last week and there are a couple of entries: one for freehold, the second leasehold with the matching property. I'd like to know for sure, how can I find out??
You need to read the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Chepstow and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they remortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with buyers. You can also enquire as to the situation with the conveyancing lawyer who conducted the work.
A couple of months ago I was advised by my bank that their panel lawyers operate no sale no fee basis for conveyancing in Chepstow. I had a purchase abort nevertheless the solicitors want search fees! They are claiming that the fees are independent!
Chepstow conveyancing search charges are separate expenses not legal fees as these are payable to a third party.