My fiance and I are hoping to purchase a house in Eye and are in fact using a Eye conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Accord Mortgages Ltd have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Eye solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
If you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is conventional 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 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 are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Eye solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
Please help. My Eye lawyer is advising me that he has toorder Eye conveyancing searches resulting from the fact thatthe firm are on the Virgin Moneyapproved lawyer panel. Is my conveyancer correct?
Unfortunately both you and your lawyer have little choice here. Given that you are taking out a loan with a bank your conveyancer has to comply with their conditions as set out in their version of the CML Conveyancing Handbook. Your lawyer would have previously signed the Terms and Conditions of your bank’s conveyancing panel appointment which obliges them to follow the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook conditions . Even if you were a cash buyer you would be ill advised not to carry out Eye conveyancing searches.
It is a dozen years since I purchased my home in Eye. Conveyancing solicitors have just been instructed on the sale but I am unable to locate my title deeds. Is this a major issue?
Don’t worry too much. First there is a possibility that the deeds will be kept by the lender or they may be in the possession of the lawyers who acted in the purchase. Secondly the chances are that the title will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you are the registered owner by your conveyancing solicitors procuring current official copies of the land registers. Nearly all conveyancing in Eye relates to registered property but in the unlikely event that your home is unregistered it is more tricky but is resolvable.
My bid for a property was accepted at auction in Eye. Conveyancing is necessary. What happens now?
Now that you are to all intents and purposes signed on the dotted line you will need to appoint a conveyancing lawyer as a matter of priority as you now have a tight a fixed date to complete the purchase. An auction property will ordinarily have a bespoke legal pack. This will include evidence of title and search results. In the case of leasehold property the legal pack may provide a copy of the lease, management information and a sellers leasehold information form and associated conveyancing paperwork relating to leasehold premises. You should give this to your appointed conveyancing solicitor ASAP. Do make sure that your finances are organised to complete on the date specified in the contract.
We are getting the release of further funds on our home loan from Bank of Ireland as we intend to carry out a loft conversion to our property in Eye. Do we need to choose a nearby Eye solicitor on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel to deal with the paperwork?
Bank of Ireland do not ordinarily require firms on their approved list of lawyers to handle the formalities. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Bank of Ireland panel.
I have a mortgage with Virgin Money for my property in Eye. Conveyancing has been completed 12 months 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 Virgin Money?
Your original mortgage agreement with Virgin Money will provide that you need their approval before renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Virgin Money’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Virgin Money will allow you to rent 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 Virgin Money directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Virgin Money conveyancing panel lawyer.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I put an offer in last month in what should have been a simple, no chain conveyancing. Eye is where the house is located. What do you suggest?
Flying freeholds in Eye are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Eye 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 Eye 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 property.
Do online conveyancing organisations do everything a high street Eye solicitor does or must I retain a solicitor for the final stages for my conveyancing in Eye?
Where you instruct an online conveyancer they will undertake all the tasks your Eye solicitor would cover.