Am I correct in assuming that the fact that my solicitor in New Eltham is not listed on my lender's conveyancing panel that there is a problem with the quality of his work?
That is more than likely an incorrect assumption to make. There are all sorts of perfectly plausible explanations. Just recently a report by the solicitors regulator revealed that over three quarters of law firms surveyed had been removed from at least one lender panel. The top 5 reasons are as follows: (1) lack of transactions (2) the solicitor is a sole practitioner (3) as part of the HSBC panel reduction (4) regulatory contact by SRA (5) accidental removal. If you are concerned you should contact the New Eltham conveyancing firm and ask them why they are no longer on the approved list for your lender.
I am acquiring a house without a mortgage in New Eltham. I have been living for the previous Seventeen years in New Eltham. Conveyancing searches are exorbitant. As I have knowledge of the area and road intimately should I not bother getting the solicitor to do all the conveyancing searches?
Provided that you do not need a home loan, then the vast majority of the New Eltham conveyancing searches are optional. Your solicitor will 'advise', perhaps strongly, that you should have searches done, but he has a professional duty to do this. Do take into account; if you are intend to sell the house in the future, it will be of relevance to your prospective purchaser what the searches determine. There are plenty of instances where premises with functional issues can still show up adverse search results. A good conveyancing solicitor in New Eltham will provide you some practical advice concerning this.
I am selling my house in New Eltham. Does my conveyancer have to be on the UBS conveyancing panel in order to deal with the discharge of my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the UBS conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their requirements fairly frequently currently.
I completed on my apartment on 10 June and the transaction details is not yet registered. Need I be worried? My conveyancing solicitor in New Eltham advises it will be recorded in less than a month. Are properties in New Eltham particularly slow to register?
There is nothing unique about conveyancing in New Eltham registration formalities. As opposed to being determined by geographic area, timescales can adjust according to who lodges the application, whether it is in order and whether the Land registry need to notify any interested parties. At present in the region of 80% of such applications are completed in less than three weeks but some can be subject to protracted delays. Historically registration takes place once the new owner is living at the property thus an expedited registration is not always primary concern but where it is urgent that the the registration takes place urgently then you or your conveyancer should communicate with the Registry to express the reasoning for an expedited registration.
Is it simple use your search facility to select a conveyancing solicitor in New Eltham on the approved list for my lender?
Step one is to pick a bank such as Yorkshire Building Society, Leeds Building Society or TSB then choose your location for instance New Eltham. Conveyancing firms in New Eltham and further afield will then be listed.
Our conveyancer in New Eltham is asking me for identification documents asserting that this is part of his legal duty as a solicitor on the mortgage company Solicitor panel. Can this be correct?
Due to Money Laundering Regulations your conveyancing lawyer is duty bound to confirm positively your identification when entering into a business relationship with you. It is a criminal offence if your lawyer not do this. If you do not provide ID early in the transaction the solicitor must refuse to act for you. It’s unlikely a lawyer will turn you away if you come to the first meeting without relevant ID but you will have to produce it at some point so you might as well bring it with you to the initial meeting so the lawyer can tick the ID verification box and start sorting out the conveyancing straight away. If you are getting a mortgage, your lawyer also has to check ID documents to satisfy the bank. This is not specific to conveyancing in New Eltham