My partner and I are hoping to acquire a house in Downham and have appointed a Downham conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Yorkshire Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Downham solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' solicitors 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 solicitor should contact your mortgage company and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own solicitors to act. 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 Downham lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
As someone not used to conveyancing in Downham what is the number one tip you can impart concerning the ownership transfer in Downham
Not many law firms shout this from the rooftops but conveyancing in Downham or throughout England and Wales is an adversarial experience. In other words, when it comes to conveyancing there is an abundance of opportunity for conflict between you and others involved in the transaction. For instance, the vendor, property agent and sometimes the mortgage company. Selecting a law firm for your conveyancing in Downham is a critical decision as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the ONE person in the legal process whose responsibility is to act in your best interests and to protect you.
We are witnessing a distinct ongoing adversarial element to conveyancing- someone must be at fault for the process being so protracted. We recommend that you your first instinct should be to trust your conveyancer above the other players when it comes to the legal transfer of property.
My fiance and I intend to purchase a newbuild flat in Downham with a residential mortgage from Skipton Building Society.We use our Downham conveyancing solicitor but Skipton Building Society says she’s not listed on their approved list of firms. It seems we have no choice but to instruct a Skipton Building Society panel firm or keep our preferred solicitor and fork out for one of their panel ones to act for them. This seems very unfair; Can we not simply insist that Skipton Building Society use our lawyer?
Unfortunately,no. The mortgage offered to you contains terms and conditions, one of which will be that solicitors will be on the Skipton Building Society conveyancing panel. in the past, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could find one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. Another option that might be available is for your lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Skipton Building Society
My bid for a property was accepted at auction in Downham. Conveyancing is needed. What happens now?
Now that you are legally bound yourself to purchase you should instruct a conveyancing lawyer soon as you now have a fast approaching a drop dead date to complete the deal. An auction property will ordinarily have a corresponding auction set of papers. This should include evidence of title and search results. If you have purchased leasehold premises the conveyancing pack should contain a copy of the lease, management information and a sellers leasehold information form and other conveyancing documentation pertinent to a leasehold property. You should pass this on to your appointed conveyancing solicitor as soon as possible. You also need to ensure that you have funds in order to complete the transaction on the set completion date.
We were going to get a OIP from Co-operative this week so we can work out what to offer on a property we like as otherwise we only have online calculators to go by (which aren't taking into account credit checks etc). Do Co-operative recommend any Downham solicitors on the Co-operative conveyancing panel, or is it better to find our own lawyer?
You will need to appoint Downham solicitors independently although you'll need to choose one on the Co-operative conveyancing panel. The solicitor represents both you and Co-operative through the process.
I'm at the point of viewing houses in Downham and I am about to put in an offer. Is it wise to have my lawyer on ‘stand by’? I intend to finance via a home loan with Co-operative.
You should start requesting conveyancing estimates from solicitors ASAP. After you have chosen your lawyer and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and forward their contact information on to the estate agent. Given that you are taking out a mortgage with Co-operative, make sure you remember to check that your lawyer is on the Co-operative conveyancing panel.
Do I need to be wary about estate agents that I am dealing with are suggesting a factory type conveyancing firm as opposed to a local Downham conveyancing company?
As with many professional services, often input from relatives can be most helpful. Yet there are lots of people with a vested interest in a conveyancing matter; estate agents, financial adviser and lenders may recommend lawyers to instruct. Sometimes the solicitors might be known to one of the organisations as experts in their field, but sometimes there might be a financial incentive behind the recommendation. You are at liberty to appoint your preferred lawyer. Don't forget that the majority of banks have an approved list of conveyancers you are obliged to use for the lender related work in your conveyancing.
Me and my partner are soon to complete buying a property in Downham but as a consequence of wreckage from the recent storms I have agreed reparation from the owner of £3k by way of a deduction in the price. This was going to be dealt with as part of the conveyancing process yet my mortgage company will not permit this. Should they have been informed?
Your solicitor that is on a lender approved list is required to advise the lender of any amendments to the purchase amount. If you did not allow your lawyer to notify the reduction to your bank then they would have no choice but to disinstructing themselves from representing you and the lender.