My fiance and I are looking to acquire a house in North Kensington and are in fact using a North Kensington 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. Norwich and Peterborough Building Society have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our North Kensington lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers 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 bank 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 North Kensington 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.
Finally the sale completed on my house in North Kensington last April but my buyer keeps calling every few hours to moan that their lawyer needs to hear from mine. What should my lawyer have done following completion?
After completion of your sale your lawyer should deliver the transfer deeds and all additional paperwork to the purchaser's conveyancer. Where appropriate, your solicitor must also send confirmation that the mortgage has been discharged to the buyers conveyancers. There are no post completion tasks peculiar conveyancing in North Kensington.
A colleague suggested that if I am purchasing in North Kensington I should ask my conveyancer to execute a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is occasionally quoted for as part of the standard North Kensington conveyancing searches. It is a large document of about 40 pages, listing and setting out significant information about North Kensington around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime statistics, North Kensington Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information about North Kensington.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold element on a house I have offered on a fortnight ago in what should have been a straight forward, chain free conveyancing. North Kensington is where the house is located. What do you suggest?
Flying freeholds in North Kensington are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in North Kensington you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds diligently. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in North Kensington may ascertain 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 property.
Given that I am about to spend 450k on a two bedroom apartment in North Kensington I wish to talk to a conveyancer regarding thehome move ahead of giving the go ahead to the firm. Can this be arranged?
Absolutely - we would be happy to talk to you we do not take any clients on without you first talking to the lawyer due to be doing your property ownership legalities in North Kensington.There is no ‘factory style conveyancing’ - every client is unique person, not a matter number. The law firms that we put you in touch with believe that the fees you are calculated and presented to you for residential conveyancing in North Kensington should be the figure that you end up paying.
I am 3 weeks into a freehold purchase having been referred to a firm by the estate agent to perform conveyancing in North Kensington. I am am extremely disappointed with the level of service. Could you you assist me in finding new conveyancers?
A lawyer would need to be really bad in order to consider replacing them. Has the mortgage offer been sent? In the event that it has you will need to advise them of the replacement solicitor and get the loan are re-sent. The conveyancer should be on the mortgage company approved list to avoid supplemental charges and frustration. That should be your first question of the new solicitors. Our find a solicitor tool can assist you in finding a bank approved solicitor for your home move in North Kensington
