My wife and I are looking to buy a home in Egremont and are in fact using a Egremont conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Chelsea Building Society have this evening contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Egremont solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance 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 Accreditation 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 solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Egremont 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.
My Egremont solicitor has uncovered a discrepancy between the information in the home valuation survey and what is in the title deeds. My lawyer says that he must check that the bank is happy with this discrepancy and is still content to lend. Is my conveyancer’s approach appropriate?
Your conveyancer must comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook specifications which do require that your lawyer disclose any incorrect assumptions in the lender’s valuation report and the legal papers. Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your lawyer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for both parties.
Please help - my lawyer says that flying freehold insurance is needed on my purchase. What is the level of cover for Egremont conveyancing?
The appropriate level of flying freehold indemnity insurance should be dictated by who who your lender is. It would differ for example between Santander and The Mortgage Works. Conveyancing practitioners as opposed to borrowers take out such insurances.
I currently have a mortgage with Bank of Ireland for my property in Egremont. Conveyancing was finalised a year ago. If I am intending to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Bank of Ireland?
You must advise Bank of Ireland in advance of letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Bank of Ireland’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Bank of Ireland will permit you to let out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Bank of Ireland directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel lawyer.
I am due to exchange contracts on my apartment. I had a double glazing fitted in June 2010, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My buyer's lender, TSB are being difficult. The Egremont solicitor who is on the TSB conveyancing panel is saying indemnity insurance will be fine but TSB are insisting on a building regulation certificate. Why do TSB have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?
It is probably the case that TSB have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why TSB may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing was correctly and safely installed. The indemnity insurance merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.
How does conveyancing in Egremont differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build premises in Egremont approach us having been asked by the builder to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the property is completed. This is because builders in Egremont tend to purchase the real estate, 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 conveyancing solicitors 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 used to new build conveyancing in Egremont or who has acted in the same development.
I decided to have a survey done on a house in Egremont before appointing conveyancers. I have been told that there is a flying freehold overhang to the property. My surveyor has said that some banks tend not issue a mortgage on such a home.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Bank of Scotland has different instructions from Halifax. If you e-mail us we can look into this further with the appropriate lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Egremont. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Egremont especially if they regularly deal with such properties in Egremont.
Am I better off to go with a Egremont conveyancing lawyer in close proximity to the house I am hoping to buy? I have an old university friend who can execute the legal formalities however his firm is located 400miles away.
The primary upside of using a local Egremont conveyancing firm is that you can drop in to sign documents, hand in your identification documents and apply pressure on them if necessary. Having local Egremont know how is a benefit. That being said nothing is more important than finding someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If other friends have instructed your friend and in the main were impressed that should surpass using an unknown Egremont conveyancing lawyer just because they are based in the area.