My husband and I are looking to acquire a home in Longford and have instructed a Longford 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 afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Longford conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is usual 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 property lawyer should contact your bank 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 Longford lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
My grandmother passed away last year and as sole heir and executor I was left the house in Longford. The house had a small mortgage remaining of approximately £8000. I want to have the title changed into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Bank of Ireland, pay off the mortgage. Is this possible?
Where you plan to re-mortgage then Bank of Ireland will require that you use a conveyancer on the Bank of Ireland 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 Bank of Ireland 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 Bank of Ireland mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
We have a mortgage agreed in principle with Nationwide. Longford conveyancing lawyers are appointed. What is the average time that one could expect to receive a mortgage offer from Nationwide?
There is no definitive answer here. Have Nationwide completed the survey? Have you advised Nationwide as to your lawyers' details and checked that your lawyers are on the Nationwide conveyancing panel? Sometimes it can take as long as six weeks for a mortgage offer to be issued.
I currently have a mortgage with Bank of Ireland for my property in Longford. Conveyancing was finalised months ago. Should I wish to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform Bank of Ireland?
Your original mortgage agreement with Bank of Ireland will provide that you need their approval prior to letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Bank of Ireland’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies will permit you to let out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Bank of Ireland directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel firm.
After months of negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Longford. My financial adviser recommended their conveyancers. I paid an upfront payment of £200. A couple of days later, the conveyancer called me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the RBS 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 RBS 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 note that there are debates on Chancel Insurance on online forums. Do I need chancel insurance when acquiring a property in Longford? or I am told that there is an ancient law that could mean that owners of property living in a parish church boundary may be liable to pay for maintenance towards the chancel within the church. Is this appropriate for conveyancing in Longford?
Unless a previous purchase of the house took place post 12 October 2013 you could expect solicitors delivering conveyancing in Longford to remain encouraging a chancel search and or insurance against a claim.
I am thinking of appointing a conveyancing lawyer in Longford for my house move. Is it possible to check a firm’s complaints history with the legal regulator?
Members of the public may see presented Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) determinations resulting from inquisitions from 2008 onwards. Visit Check a solicitor's record. For information about the period before 1 January 2008, or to check a firm's record, ring 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 any week day save for Tuesday when lines open at 9.30am. For callers outside the UK, dial +44 (0)121 329 6800. The regulator may monitor telephone calls for training reasons.
Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my garden flat in Longford. Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed, but I have just had a yearly maintenance charge invoice – Do I pay up?
It best that you pay the maintenance contribution as normal because all ground rent and service invoices will be apportioned as part of the financial calculations for completion monies, so you will be reimbursed by the purchaser for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.
Having spent months of negotiations we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Longford. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?
if there is a missing freeholder or if there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to make a decision on the premium.
An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a Longford flat is 164 Nestles Avenue in October 2013. The tribunal agreed with the proposed price of £20,158 for the freehold and determined that that sum is the amount to be paid into court This case was in relation to 2 flats. The number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 69 years.