My husband and I are looking to acquire a property in Kentish Town and have appointed a Kentish Town conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Virgin Money have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Kentish Town lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is conventional 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 lender 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 Kentish Town solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
When will exchange of contracts take place for purchase conveyancing in Kentish Town and do I need to attend the conveyancers office?
Where you are round the corner to one of the conveyancing solicitors in Kentish Town you are welcome to come in to sign documents. However, the law practices we recommend provide countrywide coverage for conveyancing and give just as detailed and professional a job for you when communicating with you electronically. The executing of the contract is not when everything is set in stone. Signing on the dotted line simply enables the solicitor to officially exchange when the time is right, which is ordinarily shortly after signing. The exchange process is nowadays normally dealt with by telephone and can be very rapid, although where a long "chain" is in play, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Kentish Town)to be in the office available at the end of the phone to exchange contracts.
Is it necessary to take out insurance to cover chancel repairs when purchasing a residence in Kentish Town?
Unless a previous acquisition of the house took place post 12 October 2013 you may assume that lawyers carrying out conveyancing in Kentish Town to continue to recommend a chancel search and or chancel repair liability policy.
How does conveyancing in Kentish Town differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build residence in Kentish Town come to us having been asked by the developer to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the house is completed. This is because builders in Kentish Town usually buy 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 conveyancers 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 used to new build conveyancing in Kentish Town or who has acted in the same development.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold element on a house I put an offer in last month in what should have been a straight forward, no chain conveyancing. Kentish Town is the location of the property. What do you suggest?
Flying freeholds in Kentish Town are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Kentish Town you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds diligently. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Kentish Town may ascertain 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 property.
Me and my partner have just had an offer accepted on a property and had an appointment on Friday with the Post Office for the mortgage. They advised us that when it comes to choosing a solicitor that if they are not on their approved list of solicitors then we will be subject to an a further fee of £250+. This is because they would then have to instruct a property lawyer to act for them in addition to the one we choose to act on our behalf and we will be on the hook for their costs. I have requested the Post Office to furnish me with a list so I can obtain quotes only from their approved conveyancers but was told that I need to check with each individual lawyer to see if they are on the panel. Is there a list online?
You can enquire of the Post Office what their panel criteria is for a conveyancer.Then ask the conveyancing practitioner of your choice whether they meet the criteria and have they acted on mortgages for the Post Office in the past. Where the answer to those is yes, then just clarify this with the Post Office. Alternatively please use our search facility and we should be able to identify a solicitor in Kentish Town on the approved list for the Post Office.