My wife and I are looking to purchase a home in Holloway and are in fact using a Holloway conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. The Mortgage Works have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Holloway lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is usual 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 solicitor 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Holloway solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
My uncle passed away 10 months ago and as sole heir and executor I was left the house in Holloway. The house had a relatively small loan left on it of around £4500. I want to have the title changed into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Nottingham, pay off the mortgage. Is this allowed?
Where you plan to refinance then Nottingham will require that you use a conveyancer on the Nottingham conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your Nottingham conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the Nottingham mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
I am assisting my niece sell her property in Holloway. Does the conveyancing solicitor order an EPC or should I organise this?
Following the abolition of HIPs, energy assessments was left as a mandatory part of moving property. An energy assessment should be to hand in advance of the property being placed on the market. It is not a task that conveyancers ordinarily organise. Where you are instructing a Holloway conveyancing practitioner they might be willing to arrange energy assessments given their contacts with reputable local assessors
Forgive me if this question is silly but I am unexperienced as FTB of a ground floor flat in Holloway. Do I receive the keys to the house on the completion date from my conveyancer? If this is the case, I will use a local conveyancing solicitor in Holloway?
There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Conveyancing lawyers for you will transfer the purchase money to the seller's lawyers, and once they have received this, you should be called to collect the keys from the selling Agents and move into your new home. This tends to happen between 1 and 3pm.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Skipton. I assume I don't need a Holloway property lawyer on the Skipton panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your Skipton 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 Skipton mortgage from the register. Skipton, 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 Skipton has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Skipton has instructed the Land Registry to do so
Should I be concerned that third parties that I am dealing with are encouraging me to use a web based conveyancing firm as opposed to a High Street Holloway conveyancing firm?
As with lots of professional services, often recommendations from relatives can be worth their weight in gold. But there are lots of people with a keen interest in a conveyancing deal; estate agents, mortgage brokers and banks might all put forward lawyers to retain. Sometimes the conveyancers might be known to one of the organisations as one of the best in their field, but sometimes there might be a commercial relationship behind the endorsement. You are at liberty to select your own lawyer. Don't forget that many mortgage providers specify a panel list of lawyers you have to use for the lender aspect of your transaction.
As co-executor for the will of my grandfather I am disposing of a house in Monmouth but live in Holloway. My lawyer (who is 200 miles awayhas requested that I sign a statutory declaration prior to completion. Could you suggest a conveyancing lawyer in Holloway who can witness and place their company stamp on the document?
strictly speaking you are unlikely to be required to have the documents attested by a conveyancing solicitor. Ordinarily any notary public or solicitor will suffice regardless of whether they are based in Holloway
I require the services of a mortgage company panel solicitor in Holloway. Can you assist?
It is not clear why you need a Holloway panel solicitor but in any event, if you can not find one on our search tool you will need to speak directly to the bank to find out which solicitors in Holloway are on their panel . If you do find such a firm in Holloway not listed please direct them to our site to list. After all the cost is only one £1 a month