My husband and I are planning to buy a home in Milton and have appointed a Milton conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Britannia have this evening contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Milton conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
If you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' solicitors 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 solicitor 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 lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Milton lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
We are buying our first property. The solicitor has contact usto enquire if we would like to purchase additional conveyancing searches. We are really unsure what's recommended for conveyancing in Milton
The scope of Milton conveyancing searches should be dictated primarily on the premises, the location, the possibility of any of these risks, your familiarity of the locality and risks, your general approach to risk. What matters is that you adequately understand what information the searches could provide. Then you can decide if you personally think you need that information. Where you are unclear, ask your lawyer to offer guidance.
I am considering refinancing my flat in Milton, does my lawyer have to be on the UBS Conveyancing panel?
In theory, you could use a solicitor that is not on the UBS conveyancing panel, but UBS would require one of their panel solicitors to be instructed to act in their interests, and you'd have to pay for this - so most people instruct a panel solicitor. It's also easier, as otherwise you'd have to deal with two solicitors for the same transaction.
I note that there are debates on Chancel Insurance on online forums. Do I need this when buying a house in Milton? or I am told that there is a law dating back centuries that means some homeowners residing in a parish church boundary may be liable to contribute towards maintenance towards the chancel within the church. Is this appropriate for conveyancing in Milton?
Unless a prior acquisition of the property completed post 12 October 2013 you can take it that conveyancing practitioners handling conveyancing in Milton to continue to recommend a chancel search and or insurance against a claim.
three months have elapsed following my purchase conveyancing in Milton completed. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £175,000 when infact I paid £170,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the asset from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
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 simple, chain free conveyancing. Milton is the location of the property. What do you suggest?
Flying freeholds in Milton are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Milton you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds diligently. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Milton may decide 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 residence.