My husband and I are hoping to acquire a house in Ongar and have appointed a Ongar conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. TSB have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Ongar lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for the mortgage company. 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 property lawyer 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 solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Ongar solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
It is a dozen years since I bought my property in Ongar. Conveyancing solicitors have recently been instructed on the sale but I am unable to locate the title documents. Will this cause complications?
You need not be too concerned. Firstly there is a possibility that the deeds will be retained by the lender or they could still be with the conveyancers who acted in the purchase. Secondly in all probability the property will be registered at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you own the property by your conveyancing lawyers obtaining current official copies of the land registers. The vast majority of conveyancing in Ongar involves registered property but in the unlikely event that your property is unregistered it is more of a problem but is not insurmountable.
My wife and I have recently appointed a conveyancing solicitor in Ongar. I I would like to check whether they are accepted on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel. Can you help?
The first thing you should do is phone your lawyer and enquire if they can act for the lender. Otherwise please get in touch with Clydesdale who may be able to confirm.
Do commercial conveyancing searches disclose planned roadworks that may affect a commercial estate in Ongar?
Its becoming the norm that commercial conveyancing solicitors in Ongar will carry out a SiteSolutions Highways report as it reduces the time that conveyancers spend in looking into accurate data on highways that impact buildings and development assets in Ongar. The report provides definitive information on the adoption status of roads, footpaths and verges, as well as the implication of traffic schemes and the rights of way surrounding a commercial development sites in Ongar.
For every commercial conveyancing transaction in Ongar it is critical to investigate the adoption status of roads surrounding a site. Failure to identify developments where adoption procedures have not been dealt with adequately may cause delays to Ongar commercial conveyancing transactions as well as present a risk to future plans for the site. These searches are not carried out for domestic conveyancing in Ongar.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold element on a property I put an offer in last month in what should have been a straight forward, chain free conveyancing. Ongar is the location of the property. Is there any advice you can give?
Flying freeholds in Ongar are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Ongar 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 Ongar 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 premises.
Am I better off to appoint a Ongar conveyancing lawyer who is local to the property I am buying? An old friend can carry out the conveyancing however his firm is located a couple of hundredkilometers away.
The primary upside of using a high street Ongar conveyancing firm is that you can visit the firm to sign documents, hand in your ID and pester them where appropriate. Having local Ongar know how is a benefit. However it's more important to get someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If you know people who used your friend and in the main were content that must trump using an unfamiliar Ongar conveyancing lawyer just because they are Ongar based.