My fiance and I are planning to buy a house in Earlswood and are in fact using a Earlswood conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Bank of Ireland have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Earlswood conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is standard for the purchasers' solicitors 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 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Earlswood lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to my home are lost. The solicitors who conducted the conveyancing in Earlswood 10 years ago no longer exist. What do I do?
Assuming you have a registered title the information relating to your ownership will be retained by the Land Registry under a Title Number. It is possible to perform a search at the Land Registry, find your house and obtain up to date copies of the property title for less than a fiver. If the title is Leasehold then the Land Registry will usually hold a certified duplicate of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be obtained for a small fee.
How does conveyancing in Earlswood differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build residence in Earlswood contact us having been asked by the builder to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the premises is ready to move into. This is because developers in Earlswood tend to purchase the site, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are accustomed to new build conveyancing in Earlswood or who has acted in the same development.
I have been on the look out for a leasehold apartment up to £245,000 and identified one close by in Earlswood I like with a park and railway links in the vicinity, the downside is that it's only got 52 years on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Earlswood suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a short lease?
If you need a home loan the remaining unexpired lease term will likely be a potential deal breaker. Discount the price by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current owner has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you could ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor about this matter.
I am looking into buying my first house which is in Earlswood and I am already nervous. I couldn't find anything specific about Earlswood. Conveyancing will be needed in due course but do you know about the Earlswood area? or perhaps some other tips you can share?
Rather than looking online forget looking online you should go and have a look at Earlswood. In the meantime here are some basic statistics that we found
I have finally had an offer on an apartment in Earlswood agreed to, the seller does nevertheless have a tied purchase. The current proprietors have offered on on an apartment, however it’s not yet agreed to, and are looking at other apartments in the pipeline. I have chosen a nearby conveyancing solicitor in Earlswood. What should be my next step? When should I get the mortgage application with Virgin Money started with Virgin Money?
It is standard to have concerns where there is an associated chain given your reluctance to incur costs prematurely (mortgage application is in the region of £1k, then survey, Earlswood conveyancing search fees, etc). First, you should check that your conveyancing practitioner is on the Virgin Money approved list. Regarding the subsequent steps this very much depends on the circumstances of your case, desire for this property and on the state of the market. In a buoyant market some buyers would apply for the mortgage with Virgin Money and arrange for the survey and only if it comes back ok would they pay their conveyancer to move forward with searches.