We are planning to buy a 2 bedroom apartment in Melbourne with a mortgage. We like our Melbourne conveyancer, however the mortgage company says he's not on their "panel". It appears that we have no choice but to use one of the bank panel conveyancing practices or retain our Melbourne property lawyer and pay for one of their panel ones to act for them. This seems very unfair; is there anything we can do?
No, not really. Your mortgage offer is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the bank’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your Melbourne conveyancing solicitor to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
I require conveyancing for an apartment in a fairly new development (seven years built) in Melbourne. Almost all the properties have already been occupied. Do I need carry out the conveyancing searches as part of conveyancing in Melbourne?
If you getting a mortgage, your lender will need some (many) of the searches so you'll have no choice. If not, then Melbourne conveyancing searches are optional. No doubt your conveyancer, will ’encourage’, perhaps strongly, that you should not go ahead without searches, but he or she is duty bound in this regard. One thing to bear in mind; if you are likely to sell the house one day, it may be of interest to your future buyer what the searches contain. Sometimes houses with no practical issues can still throw up adverse search results. But if you insist that your lawyer to proceed without searches then your lawyer will have to follow your instructions or ask you to appoint a different lawyer for your conveyancing in Melbourne.
My wife and I are purchasing a house in Melbourne. I might seem paranoid but how we can trust a lawyer? At some point we will need to send our life savings into their account. What is the protection we have from them run away with our monies?
Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.
A friend advised me that in buying a property in Melbourne there may be various restrictions limiting what one can do in terms of external alterations to the property. Is this right?
We are aware of a number of properties in Melbourne which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to execute external changes. Part of the conveyancing in Melbourne should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.
Bank of Ireland have agreed my mortgage in principle, my offer on a apartment in Melbourne has been accepted, now what?
Your estate agent will wish to know who your solicitors are (make sure the lawyers are on the bank’s approved list). Telephone Bank of Ireland or your financial adviser and finish off any appropriate paperwork. Bank of Ireland will instruct a valuer who will get in contact with the estate agent or vendor to arrange a time for the valuation to happen. Once carried out (assuming no problems) it takes on average ten days for the mortgage offer to be issued. Bank of Ireland will send the offer to you and your property lawyers. The legal work will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Melbourne.
My wife and I are planning on selling our home in Melbourne and the buyers lawyers are claiming that there is a possibility that the property was constructed on contaminated land. A high street Melbourne lawyer would know that there is no such problem. It does beg the question why the buyers used a factory type conveyancing firm as opposed to a conveyancing solicitor in Melbourne. We have lived in Melbourne for 4 years we know of no issue. Should we contact our local Authority to seek confirmation that there is no issue.
It would appear that you have a conveyancing solicitor already. What do they say? You must 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)
I am looking for a flat up to £195,000 and identified one round the corner in Melbourne I like with a park and railway links in the vicinity, however it only has 52 years on the lease. There is not much else in Melbourne in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a lease with such few years left?
Should you need a home loan that many years may be a potential deal breaker. Discount the price by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing owner has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you may ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and pass it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor regarding this.
In my capacity as executor for the will of my grandmother I am disposing of a house in Neath but live in Melbourne. My conveyancer (who is 260 kilometers from meneeds me to execute a stat dec ahead of the transaction finalising. Could you suggest a conveyancing lawyer in Melbourne who can witness and place their company stamp on the document?
strictly speaking you should not need to have the documents witnessed by a conveyancing solicitor. Ordinarily any notary public or solicitor will do regardless of whether they are located in Melbourne