Me and my wife are acquiring a ground floor flat in Clifton. My lawyer has never been on on the lender conveyancing list. Is it possible for me to appoint my Clifton conveyancing solicitor even though they are excluded from the bank list of approved lawyers?
One will need to instruct a solicitor to deal with the formalities if you need a mortgage to buy your home. The lawyer will carry out all the relevant legal checks on the property, ensuring that you’re registered as proprietor and ensure that all the required mortgage documentation is in place. You could select a Clifton lawyer of your choosing. However, where the solicitor appointed is not on the bank approved list further fees will be incurred as separate legal representation will be required by them. Conveyancing panel applications can be submitted, so provided your conveyancer has not previously sought membership they should take the opportunity to apply.
Finally the sale completed on my house in Clifton last June but our buyer keeps texting every few hours to moan that her conveyancer is waiting to hear from mine. What are the post completion sale formalities following completion?
Post completion of your sale your conveyancer should deliver the transfer documentation and all supplemental paperwork to the purchaser's conveyancer. Depending on the transaction, your lawyer should also confirm that the mortgage has been paid off to the purchasers solicitors. There is unlikely to be post completion procedures peculiar conveyancing in Clifton.
Can you clarify what the consequences are if my solicitor is expelled from the Aldermore Solicitor panel ahead of completing my conveyancing in Clifton?
First, this is a very rare occurrence. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have to instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by a regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit at a cost.
My colleague advised me that where I am buying in Clifton I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is occasionally included in the estimate for your Clifton conveyancing searches. It is a large report of about 40 pages, listing and detailing significant information about Clifton around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Clifton Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Clifton Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information about Clifton.
Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to our house are lost. The conveyancers who conducted the conveyancing in Clifton 4 years ago are no longer around. Will I be able to sell the house?
Assuming the title is registered the information relating to your ownership will be held by the Land Registry under a Title Number. It is easy to execute a search at the Land Registry, locate your house and secure current copies of the Registered Entries for a small fee. If the title is Leasehold then the Land Registry will also normally retain a certified duplicate of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be retrieved for £20 inclusive of VAT.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold element on a house I put an offer in a fortnight ago in what was supposed to be a simple, no chain conveyancing. Clifton is where the house is located. Can you shed any light on this issue?
Flying freeholds in Clifton are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Clifton you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds diligently. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Clifton 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 premises.