My partner and I are looking to acquire a house in Hampstead Garden Suburb and have instructed a Hampstead Garden Suburb conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Barclays Direct have this morning contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Hampstead Garden Suburb solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' solicitors 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 Quality Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your lender 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 Hampstead Garden Suburb lawyers, 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 bid for a property was accepted at auction in Hampstead Garden Suburb. Conveyancing is required. What happens now?
Now that you are to in every practical sense signed on the dotted line you should choose a conveyancing lawyer soon as you now have a fast approaching a drop dead date to complete the property. Every auction property will ordinarily have a bespoke legal set of papers. This will likely include evidence of title and search results. If you have purchased leasehold premises the conveyancing papers may contain a copy of the lease, management information and a sellers leasehold information form and associated conveyancing documentation pertinent to a leasehold property. You must give this to the lawyer working for you as soon as possible. You also need to ensure that that you have the requisite funding in place to complete the transaction on the set completion date.
I recently had an offer accepted on an apartment in Hampstead Garden Suburb. My financial adviser suggested a lawyer. I paid an upfront payment of £175. A couple of days later, the property lawyer contacted me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Co-operative conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Co-operative panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
At last I have had an offer on a flat in Hampstead Garden Suburb agreed to, but there is a chain. The sellers have placed an offer on a property, but it’s not yet tied up, and have viewings of other flats booked. I have chosen a local conveyancing solicitor in Hampstead Garden Suburb. What should be my next step? At what stage should I apply for the mortgage with Virgin Money?
It is usual to have anxieties where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to incur costs prematurely (home loan application is approx £1k, then survey, Hampstead Garden Suburb conveyancing search charges, etc). The first thing to do is check that your conveyancing practitioner is on the Virgin Money approved list. As to the subsequent phase this very much depends on the specifics of your case, desire for the property and on the state of the market. During a rising market the majority of buyers will apply for the mortgage with Virgin Money and pay for the valuation and only if it was satisfactory would they request their conveyancer to move forward with the conveyancing in Hampstead Garden Suburb.
Should my solicitor be raising enquiries concerning flooding as part of the conveyancing in Hampstead Garden Suburb.
The risk of flooding is if increasing concern for conveyancers specialising in conveyancing in Hampstead Garden Suburb. Plenty of people will buy a house in Hampstead Garden Suburb, completely expectant that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. However, leaving to one side the physical destruction, where a property is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to get a mortgage, adequate insurance cover, or dispose of the premises. There are steps that can be taken during the course of a house purchase to forewarn the buyer.
Lawyers are not best placed to impart advice on flood risk, however there are a numerous checks that can be carried out by the purchaser or on a buyer’s behalf which will figure out the risks in Hampstead Garden Suburb. The standard information supplied to a purchaser’s conveyancer (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) incorporates a standard question of the seller to determine if the property has suffered from flooding. If the residence has been flooded in past and is not disclosed by the vendor, then a purchaser may issue a compensation claim as a result of such an incorrect response. A buyer’s solicitors should also order an environmental report. This will indicate whether there is any known flood risk. If so, more detailed inquiries should be made.
2 months have elapsed following my purchase conveyancing in Hampstead Garden Suburb completed. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £175,000 when infact I paid £160,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the premises from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold element on a property I have offered on two weeks back in what was supposed to be a straight forward, chain free conveyancing. Hampstead Garden Suburb is the location of the property. Can you shed any light on this issue?
Flying freeholds in Hampstead Garden Suburb are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Hampstead Garden Suburb you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds thoroughly. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Hampstead Garden Suburb 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.
Please can you explain what my options are where my Hampstead Garden Suburb conveyancing searches reveals adverse entries?
On the whole, almost all problems disclosed in Hampstead Garden Suburb conveyancing search responses can be dealt with prior to completion or title insurance may be put in place. You need to note that even though you intend on purchasing the premises and may be content to live with the search results, your lender may not, and when all said and done have the final decision.