The Grays conveyancing firm that I appointed last week on my purchase in Grays have without warning shut down. They were on acting for me because I had to have a firm on the Lloyds conveyancing panel and my family Grays lawyer was not. I issued them a cheque for £250 in advance. What are my options?
If you have an estate agent involved then let them know immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Lloyds conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers should be in a position to help.
The mortgage over my property is with Leeds Building Society for my property in Grays. Conveyancing was finalised some time ago. If I am intending to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Leeds Building Society?
Your original mortgage agreement with Leeds Building Society will provide that you need their approval in advance of letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Leeds Building Society’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies 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 Leeds Building Society directly. You need not do this via a Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel solicitor.
I am due to exchange contracts on my flat. I had a double glazing fitted in July 2008, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My buyer's mortgage company, Clydesdale are being problematic. The Grays solicitor who is on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel is happy to accept ‘lack of building regulation’ insurance but Clydesdale are requiring a building regulation certificate. Why do Clydesdale have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?
It is probably the case that Clydesdale have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why Clydesdale 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.
Having read lots of house buying guides, I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Grays solicitor - who is on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. Is that normal?
Virgin Money will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Virgin Money will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. Your conveyancer will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by your Grays postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with Virgin Money, you could contact them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors in Grays.
I understand that there are debates on Chancel Insurance on online forums. Am I compelled to take this when buying a house in Grays? or Apparently there is a law dating back centuries that means some homeowners living in a parish church boundary may be liable to pay for maintenance to the chancel in proximity to the church. Is this appropriate for conveyancing in Grays?
Unless a prior acquisition of the house completed post 12 October 2013 you can assume that conveyancing practitioners carrying out conveyancing in Grays to continue to recommend a chancel search and or insurance against a claim.
How does conveyancing in Grays differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build residence in Grays come to us having been asked by the builder to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the house is ready to move into. This is because new home sellers in Grays typically purchase the site, 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 Grays or who has acted in the same development.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold element on a house I have offered on last month in what should have been a simple, no chain conveyancing. Grays is where the house is located. What do you suggest?
Flying freeholds in Grays are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Grays you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds very carefully. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Grays may decide 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 premises.
I was advised by numerous estate agents in Grays to get a quote from a conveyancer using your seach tool. Is there a financial incentive for Estate Agents to market your site ahead of alternative conveyancing organisations?
We refuse to give any referral fee for sending work in our direction. We thought it would be too underhand a fee because home movers will think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not getting any benefit too?’ We would prefer to grow our business on genuine recommendations.