My partner and I are looking to buy a property in Feltham and are in fact using a Feltham conveyancing practice. 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. Bank of Ireland have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Feltham lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
If you are buying a property with the assistance 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 Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer 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 lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Feltham solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Please explain the implications if my solicitor is expelled from the UBS Conveyancing panel ahead of completing my conveyancing in Feltham?
The first thing to point out is that, this is very unlikely to happen. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have to instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by a regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit at a cost.
A friend recommended that if I am buying in Feltham I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is sometimes included in the estimate for your Feltham conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out significant information about Feltham around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Local Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data about Feltham.
How does conveyancing in Feltham differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build or newly converted property in Feltham approach us having been asked by the builder to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the residence is finished. This is because house builders in Feltham typically purchase the land, 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 accustomed to new build conveyancing in Feltham or who has acted in the same development.
Is it possible to change conveyancer as I need to select a firm on the Alliance & Leicester conveyancing panel. I hired a family conveyancing solicitor in Feltham round the corner but the firm is not approved by Alliance & Leicester
It would be our pleasure to help you find a conveyancing solicitor in Feltham on the Alliance & Leicester panel. Please note that the solicitors that we list do not pay us fee if you instruct them and are registered with the SRA who oversee all conveyancing solicitors in Feltham. Using search facility on this website, you can compare and instruct different solicitors and conveyancers both nationally and in Feltham.
I need to retain a conveyancing solicitor for some conveyancing in Feltham. I've land on a web site which looks to be the ideal solution If there is a chance to get all formalities completed via phone that would be preferable. Do I need to be concerned? What are the potential pitfalls?
As usual with these online conveyancers you need to read ALL the small print - did you notice the extra charge for dealing with the mortgage?