My lawyer in Luton is not on the Chelsea Building Society Conveyancing Panel. Is it possible for me to retain my family solicitor even though they are excluded from the Chelsea Building Society approved list?
The limited options available to you here include:
- Complete the purchase with your existing Luton lawyers but Chelsea Building Society will need to use a solicitor on their list of acceptable firms. This will inevitably rack up the overall legal fees as well as cause delays.
- Find an alternative lawyer to act in the purchase, obviously checking they are Chelsea Building Society approved.
- Persuade your Chelsea Building Society based solicitor to try to join the Chelsea Building Society panel
A friend advised me that in purchasing a property in Luton there may be a number of restrictions as to what one can do in terms of external alterations to a property. Is this right?
There are a number of properties in Luton which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to execute external variations. Part of the conveyancing in Luton should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.
My offer was accepted on a property in Luton on 9/12/2021, valuation was booked 2 days later, all came back fine. Solicitor retained, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Skipton and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Skipton conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?
Mortgage companies tend not to not issue a mortgage until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Skipton to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Skipton conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
Principality have agreed my home loan in principle, my offer on a apartment in Luton has been agreed to, what happens next?
The property agent will want to know who your solicitors are (make sure the solicitors are on the lender’s panel). Call up Principality or your broker and finish off any outstanding paperwork. Principality will appoint a valuer who will get in touch with the selling agent or owners to schedule an appointment. Once conducted (assuming no problems) it takes about a fortnight for the mortgage offer to be issued. Principality will send the offer to you and your lawyers. The legal work will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Luton.
I used Action Conveyancing several years past for my conveyancing in Luton. Now, I need the documents however cannot find the solicitor. What do I do?
You should call the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Luton of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously retained, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I have offered on a fortnight ago in what should have been a quick, no chain conveyancing. Luton is the location of the property. Can you shed any light on this issue?
Flying freeholds in Luton are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Luton you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds thoroughly. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Luton may determine 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 premises.
I have been sourcing a conveyancing practitioner in Luton for my remortgage. Is it possible to review a firm’s record with the legal regulator?
Anyone can see published Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) determinations arising from inquisitions from 2008 onwards. Go to Check a solicitor's record. To find details Pre 2008, or to check a firm's history, telephone 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 any week day save for Tuesday when lines open at 9.30am. For callers outside the UK, use +44 (0)121 329 6800. The regulator could monitor call for training reasons.
22 days into purchasing a house in Luton. Conveyancing solicitor has told us the title is "Leasehold". Should this impact our HSBC valuation?
Luton conveyancing does not in most situations involve leasehold houses. The main factor here is the remaining lease term and the ground rent. If it's 999 years with a nominal rent, it's essentially freehold, so it’s unlikely to affect the value too much.
At the other extreme, if it's, say, 50 years it will have a material effect on the value, and probably wouldn't be mortgageable. The length of lease and ground rent will be stated in the lease to be supplied to your solicitor.