My partner and I are planning to buy a house in Chester le Street and have appointed a Chester le Street conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Yorkshire Building Society have this morning contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Chester le Street solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
If you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers 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 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Chester le Street 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 there a reason why leasehold purchase conveyancing in Chester le Street costs more?
Chester le Street leasehold conveyancing transactions usually involve additional investigations than freeholds including investigating the Lease, liaising with the Landlord such as serving relevant notices on the Landlord or managing agent, obtaining up-to-date service charge and management information, obtaining Landlord’s consents and reviewing management accounts and formation documents.
I am purchasing a right to buy a flat in Chester le Street. How practical is it for me to do the conveyancing?
Leaving aside the complexities and merits of DIY conveyancing in Chester le Street you will have to appoint a solicitor on your bank's conveyancing panel to look after their interests. Most people therefore find it easier to let the solicitor act for them and the lender. Furthermore there is minimal cost savings to be made in you doing conveyancing for yourself and another lawyer conducting the conveyancing for the lender. Please feel free to use the search tool to find a lawyer on your lender panel in Chester le Street.
Are all Chester le Street Conveyancing Quality Solicitors on the Aldermore conveyancing panel?
Some major lenders now utilise CQS as the kick off point for Panel approval such as HSBC and Santander. CQS accreditation however is no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. That being said,the Council of Mortgage Lenders have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for firms wishing to join their approved list of firms.
We are getting the release of further funds on our home loan from Lloyds as we want to conduct renovations to our home in Chester le Street. Do we need to select a nearby Chester le Street solicitor on the Lloyds conveyancing panel to deal with the paperwork?
Lloyds do not ordinarily instruct a member of their conveyancing panel to deal with such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Lloyds conveyancing panel.
After much negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Chester le Street. My mortgage broker recommended their conveyancers. I paid an upfront payment of £225. A few days later, the conveyancing practitioner contacted me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Nationwide conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Nationwide panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
I have todaybecome aware that Stirling Law have been shut down. They conducted my conveyancing in Chester le Street for a purchase of a freehold house 18 months ago. How can I establish that the property is not still registered in the name of the former proprietor?
The easiest method to see if the property is registered to you, you can make a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Chester le Street conveyancing specialists.
I opted to have a survey done on a property in Chester le Street ahead of instructing conveyancers. I have been informed that there is a flying freehold aspect to the property. Our surveyor has said that some mortgage companies may refuse to issue a loan on such a property.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Lloyds has different requirements for example to Birmingham Midshires. Should you wish to call us we can look into this further with the relevant lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Chester le Street. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Chester le Street to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.