My fiance and I are hoping to buy a property in East Barnet and have appointed a East Barnet conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Nottingham Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our East Barnet lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the purchaser's lender. 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 property lawyer 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 solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own East Barnet solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Can the conveyancing solicitors via your comparison service conduct attended exchange conveyancing in East Barnet?
We do have a number of conveyancing specialists who can conduct one day exchanges. Please e-mail us to secure a fee calculation and details as to dates.
This question may be naive but I am unseasoned as FTB of a ground floor flat in East Barnet. Do I pick up the keys to the premises on completion from my solicitor? If so, I will find a local conveyancing solicitor in East Barnet?
There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Conveyancing lawyers for you will electronically transfer the purchase money to the seller's lawyers, and once they have received this, you should be able to collect the keys from the selling Agents and move into your new home. Usually this occurs early afternoon.
We expect to receive a DIP from Principality 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 Principality recommend any East Barnet solicitors on the Principality conveyancing panel, or is it better to find our own lawyer?
You will need to appoint East Barnet solicitors independently although you'll need to choose one on the Principality conveyancing panel. The solicitor represents both you and Principality through the process.
I have paid off my mortgage with Nottingham. I assume I don't need a East Barnet conveyancing practitioner on the Nottingham panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your Nottingham mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Nottingham mortgage from the register. Nottingham, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where Nottingham has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Nottingham has instructed the Land Registry to do so
I used Wolstenholmes several years past for my conveyancing in East Barnet. I now require my file however cannot find the solicitor. What do I do?
Do contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in East Barnet of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously retained, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I put an offer in two weeks back in what was supposed to be a simple, chain free conveyancing. East Barnet is the location of the property. What do you suggest?
Flying freeholds in East Barnet are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in East Barnet you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds very carefully. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in East Barnet may determine 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 residence.
Given that I am about to part with hundreds of thousands of pounds on a garden flat in East Barnet I would like to talk to a lawyer regarding theconveyancing before giving the go ahead to the firm. Can this be arranged?
Absolutely - it is our preference to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you liaising with the lawyer who will be conducting your property ownership legalities in East Barnet.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - every client is unique person, not a case reference. The law firms that we put you in touch with believe that the figure you are quoted for residential conveyancing in East Barnet should be the figure that you are charged.