My wife and I are looking to buy a property in Littleborough and have instructed a Littleborough conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Platform Home Loans Ltd have this morning contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Littleborough lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers 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 Accreditation 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 bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Littleborough solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
Please help. My Littleborough lawyer is informing me me that he is legally obliged toconduct Littleborough conveyancing searches becausethe firm are on the Santandersolicitor panel. Is this really necessary?
Unfortunately both you and your lawyer have little choice here. As you are taking a mortgage with a mortgage company your property lawyer has to comply with their conditions as set out in their version of the CML Conveyancing Handbook. Your lawyer would have previously signed the Terms and Conditions of your lender’s conveyancing panel appointment which obliges them to follow the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook provisions . Even if you were a cash buyer you would be ill advised not to carry out Littleborough conveyancing searches.
We note that you have a search directory listing solicitors on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel. Do firms pay you a referral fee if I retain them for our conveyancing in Littleborough?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint for your conveyancing in Littleborough.
If you had a top tip for selecting a conveyancing solicitor in Littleborough what would it be?
We would encourage you not to go for the cheapest Littleborough conveyancing quote. You really do get what you’re paying for when it comes to property lawyers. A cheap quote may mean that the conveyancing solicitor is handling a lot of jobs at one time and you won’t get the quality of service and the attention that you need. It is, however, wise to use a conveyancer who has a fixed fee on a no sale, no fee basis. This way, you know exactly what you’ll have to pay in ahead of time.
A colleague advised me that in buying a property in Littleborough there could be a number of restrictions limiting what one can do in terms of external alterations to the property. Is this right?
There are anumerous of properties in Littleborough which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to execute external alterations. Part of the conveyancing in Littleborough should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.
After weeks of negotiation I have agreed a price on a house in Littleborough. My financial adviser recommended their conveyancers. I paid an upfront payment of £150. Shortly after, the conveyancing practitioner contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the TSB 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 TSB 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.
I need some quick conveyancing in Littleborough as I have an ultimatum to sign on the dotted line inside 2 weeks. A home loan is not required. Can I escape the need for conveyancing searches to save money and time?
As you are are a mortgage free buyer you are at liberty not to have searches carried out although no conveyancer would recommend that you don't. With plenty of history conveyancing in Littleborough the following are instances of issues that can show up and adversely impact future saleability: Refused Planning Applications, Outstanding Fees, Overdue Grants, Railway Schemes,...
I have todaydiscovered that Action Conveyancing have closed. They conducted my conveyancing in Littleborough for a purchase of a leasehold flat 9 months ago. How can I check that my home is not still registered in the name of the former proprietor?
The easiest way to check if the property is in your name, you can carry out a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Littleborough conveyancing specialists.