My fiance and I are hoping to buy a house in Limehouse and are in fact using a Limehouse conveyancing practice. 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. Birmingham Midshires have this morning contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Limehouse lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for 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 Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer 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 solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Limehouse lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
Last April we completed a house move in Limehouse. We have noticed several issues with the house which we believe were omitted in the conveyancing searches. Is there anything we can do? What searches should? have been ordered for conveyancing in Limehouse?
The query is not clear as to the nature of the problems and if they are relate to conveyancing in Limehouse. Conveyancing searches and due diligence initiated during the buying process are supposed to help avoid problems. As part of the process, the vendor fills in a document referred to as a SPIF. If the information ends up being incorrect, then you may have a claim against the owner for any losses that you have suffered. The survey should have identified any problems with the structure of the property. Assuming a detailed survey was carried out and the issues were not identified, you may have a claim against the surveyor. However, if you did not have a full survey, you may be responsible for fixing any defects that have now been noted. We would always encourage buyers to take every possible step to ensure they are completely aware of the condition of a property before purchase regardless of whether they are buying in Limehouse.
We are close to exchanging contracts on the sale of our home in Limehouse and according to the buyers it appears that there is a risk of it being built on contaminated land. Any high street Limehouse conveyancer would know this is not the case. For the life of me I don't know why the buyers are using a factory type conveyancing outfit rather than a conveyancing solicitor in Limehouse. We have lived in Limehouse for 5 years we know that this is a non issue. Is it a good idea to get in touch with our local Authority to obtain clarification that there is no issue.
It would appear that you have a conveyancing firm currently acting for you. Are they able to advise? You should enquire of your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out life insurance to cover that same ailment)
The deeds to our house are lost. The conveyancers who did the conveyancing in Limehouse 10 years ago have long since closed. What are my next steps?
As long as the title is registered the details of your ownership will be held by the Land Registry with a Title Number. It is easy to carry out a search at the Land Registry, locate your house and get current copies of the Registered Entries for less than a fiver. Where the title is Leasehold then the Land Registry will also normally hold a file copy of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be ordered for a small fee.
I have been on the look out for a flat up to £235,500 and found one close by in Limehouse I like with a park and transport links nearby, the downside is that it only has 49 years on the lease. There is not much else in Limehouse suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a short lease?
If you require a home loan the shortness of the lease will likely be a potential deal breaker. Reduce the offer by the anticipated lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current owner has owned the property for at least 2 years you could request that they commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease term with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer concerning this matter.
Myself and my wife have recently had an offer agreed on a property and had meeting on Tuesday with HSBC for the mortgage. They warned me that when it comes to appointing a conveyancing practitioner that if they are not on their approved panel of property lawyers then we will be subject to an a further charge of £250+. This is is due to the fact that they will then have to instruct a property lawyer to act for them as well as the one we select for ourselves and we will be on the hook for their fees. I have asked HSBC to furnish me with a list so I can obtain quotes only from their approved conveyancers but was told they dont have such a list to hand over. Is there a simple way of finding out who is on a lender panel?
You should ask HSBC what their criteria for panel membership is for a conveyancer.Then ask the conveyancing practitioner of your choice whether they meet the criteria and have they acted on loans for HSBC previously. Where the answer to those is yes, then just double check with HSBC. Alternatively please use our search facility and we may be able to find you a conveyancer in Limehouse on the panel for HSBC.