My husband and I are hoping to buy a house in Oxton and are in fact using a Oxton conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Skipton Building Society have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Oxton solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
If you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' solicitors 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 Accreditation 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 solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Oxton solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
My Oxton solicitor has uncovered a difference between the assumptions in the home valuation report and what is revealed within the conveyancing documents. My solicitor informs me that he must check that the bank is happy with this discrepancy and is still content to lend. Is my conveyancer’s course or action correct?
Your conveyancer must comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook provisions which do require that your lawyer disclose any incorrect assumptions in the lender’s valuation report and the legal papers. Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your lawyer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for both parties.
My wife and I have recently appointed a conveyancing solicitor in Oxton. I I am struggling to find out whether they are accepted on the Barclays approved list of lawyers. Can you help?
The first thing you should do is call the lawyer and ask them whether they can act for the lender. Otherwise please call Barclays who may be able to assist.
My partner and I are at the point of viewing houses in Oxton and I am about to put in an offer. Is it premature to have a solicitor in place? I intend to finance via a home loan with RBS.
It would be advisable to commence your search sooner rather than later. After you have chosen your lawyer and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and forward their contact information on to the estate agent. As you are taking out a mortgage with RBS, ask your prospective lawyers if they are on the RBS conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.
I had an offer accepted on a house in Oxton on 3/2/2023, valuation was booked five days later, all came back fine. Solicitor instructed, so all that was missing was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Nottingham and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Nottingham conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?
A lender would not issue a mortgage until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Nottingham to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Nottingham conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
After shopping around on the internet I have found a Oxton lawyer having checked that they are on the Co-operative conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
Co-operative will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Co-operative will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own Oxton surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller.
Am I right to be suspicious that third parties that I am dealing with are recommending a web based conveyancing firm as opposed to a local Oxton conveyancing practice?
As is the case with many service providers, often input from family and friends can be extremely useful or valuable. Yet there are lots of players in a conveyancing deal; estate agents, financial adviser and lenders might all suggest conveyancers to use. Sometimes the lawyers might be known to one of the organisations as one of the best in their field, but occasionally there may be a commercial relationship behind the recommendation. You have the discretion to appoint your own lawyer. However, bear in mind that many banks specify a panel list of conveyancers you are obliged to use for the lender aspect of your home move.
Is there an average conveyancing fee for conveyancing in Oxton?
The average cost last year for conveyancing in Oxton was just over one thousand four hundred and fifty pounds not including Stamp Duty and Land Registry fees.