My wife and I are hoping to acquire a property in Folkestone and have appointed a Folkestone conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Santander have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Folkestone solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is usual for the purchasers' solicitors 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 Accreditation 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Folkestone lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
What is the difference between a licensed conveyancer and conveyancing solicitor in Folkestone
There are many recorded licenced Conveyancers in Folkestone and Solicitor firms in Folkestone who provide Conveyancing services It is important to make clear that both are regulated professionals specialising in the legal aspects of the home buying process. The two can deal with associated property related work such as remortgage conveyancing, lease extensions and transfer of equity conveyancing.
Are all Folkestone Conveyancing Quality Solicitors on the Skipton conveyancing list of approved solicitors?
A selection of banks and building societies now make use of the accreditation scheme as the kick off point for Panel membership such as HSBC and Santander. CQS membership however gives no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. Nevertheless,the Council of Mortgage Lenders have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for solicitors wishing to join their approved list of firms.
I have paid off my mortgage with RBS. I assume I don't need a Folkestone solicitor on the RBS panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your RBS 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 RBS mortgage from the register. RBS, 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 RBS has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- RBS has instructed the Land Registry to do so
What will a local search inform me concerning the property we're buying in Folkestone?
Folkestone conveyancing often starts with the submitting local authority searches directly from your local Authority or via a personal search organisations such as Searchflow The local search is essential in every Folkestone conveyancing purchase; that is if you don’t want any nasty surprises after you move into your property. The search will reveal data on, amongst other things, details on planning applications relevant to the premises (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of thirteen subject sections.
The estate agent has sent us the confirmation of our purchase of a new build apartment in Folkestone. Conveyancing is a frightening process at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. What sort of enquires would be asked in new build legal work.
Here are examples of a few leasehold new build questions that you may expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Folkestone
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Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. Forfeiture - bankruptcy or liquidation must not apply under this provision. Please confirm the Lease plans are architect prepared. Please provide evidence that the form of Lease proposed has been approved by the Land Registry.
I was pointed in your direction by two or three local selling agents in Folkestone to get a quote from a property lawyer using your seach tool. What’s the financial advantage for Estate Agents to offer your services ahead of alternative conveyancing organisations?
We don’t give any financial incentive for directing people to this site. We found it would be just too difficult a fee as home movers will think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not receiving any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.
The property lawyers handling our conveyancing in Folkestone has sent papers to review that state the property is unregistered with epitome documents. How can it be that the property not currently recorded at HMLR?
Although the vast majorities of properties in Folkestone are now registered with HM Land Registry there are still some that are unregistered. Any property in Folkestone that has been remortgaged since the late 1980’s will have been registered at the Land Registry under the compulsory ‘first registration’ scheme. However, if a Folkestone property has not changed hands in that time then it’s likely the old fashioned title deeds will be the only evidence of ownership.Many Folkestone conveyancing lawyers will be familiar with this type of conveyancing but where uncertainty exists the prevailing advice nowadays is for the seller to register it first and thereafter deal with the disposal - this undoubtedly cause a significant delay.