My wife and I have recently acquired a house in Oxfordshire. We have noticed several issues with the property which we suspect were missed in the conveyancing searches. Do we have any recourse? Can you clarify the nature of searches that should have been carried out for conveyancing in Oxfordshire?
It is not clear from the question as what problems have arisen and if they are specific to conveyancing in Oxfordshire. Conveyancing searches and investigations initiated as part of the buying process are carried out to help avoid problems. As part of the legal transfer of property, a property owner answers a questionnaire referred to as a SPIF. answers proves to be misleading, you may have a misrepresentation claim against the owner for any losses that you have suffered. The survey should have identified any problems with the structure of the property. Assuming a detailed survey was carried out and the issues were not identified, you may have a claim against the surveyor. However, if you did not have a full survey, you may be responsible for fixing any defects that have now been noted. We would always encourage buyers to take every possible step to ensure they are completely aware of the condition of a property before purchase regardless of whether they are buying in Oxfordshire.
We are selling our house in Oxfordshire. Will my lawyer have to be required to be on the Skipton conveyancing panel in order to deal with paying off my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Skipton 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 at the moment.
This question may be naive but I am wet behind the ears as a 1st time purchaser of a two bedroom flat in Oxfordshire. Do I pick up the keys to the premises on completion from my solicitor? If so, I will instruct a local conveyancing solicitor in Oxfordshire?
On the day of completion you will not be required to go to the conveyancers office in Oxfordshire. Your solicitors will arrange to send the purchase money to the owner’s conveyancers, and once they have received this, you should be called to receive the keys from the selling Agents and start moving into the property. This tends to happen between 1 and 3pm.
We are getting a further advance on our home loan from Leeds Building Society as we want to conduct renovations to our home in Oxfordshire. Are we obliged to select a high street Oxfordshire solicitor on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel to deal with the paperwork?
Leeds Building Society would not normally appoint a member of their conveyancing panel to handle such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel.
I have paid off my mortgage with Coventry BS. I assume I don't need a Oxfordshire conveyancing practitioner on the Coventry BS panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your Coventry BS mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Coventry BS mortgage from the register. Coventry BS, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where Coventry BS has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Coventry BS has instructed the Land Registry to do so
What does a local search reveal about the house I am purchasing in Oxfordshire?
Oxfordshire conveyancing often starts with the applying for local authority searches directly from your local Authority or via a personal search company such as Searchflow The local search plays a central part in most Oxfordshire conveyancing purchase; as long as you don’t want any unpleasant once you have moved into your property. The search will provide information on, amongst other things, details on planning applications relevant to the property (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of 13 topic areas.
I have recentlyfound out that Arc property Solicitors have closed. They conducted my conveyancing in Oxfordshire for a purchase of a freehold house 10 months ago. How can I establish that the property is in my name in the name of the former proprietor?
The easiest method to see if the premises is registered to you, you can make a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Oxfordshire conveyancing specialists.
How does conveyancing in Oxfordshire differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build premises in Oxfordshire contact us having been asked by the builder to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the premises is completed. This is because developers in Oxfordshire tend to buy the site, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct property lawyers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are used to new build conveyancing in Oxfordshire or who has acted in the same development.