My husband and I are planning to acquire a home in Queensbury and have instructed a Queensbury conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. The Mortgage Works have this evening contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Queensbury solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent 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 lender 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 Queensbury solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Do lenders provide you with an approved list of Queensbury conveyancing solicitors? How do you know who is on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel?
Queensbury conveyancing firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Clydesdale directly.
The formalities of my purchase has taken place for my property in Queensbury. Conveyancing was satisfactory but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about the lender. Who do I contact should I wish to lodge a complaint?
Most banks and building societies have complaints procedures. Your first point of contact should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Care Team at head office. We understand that complaints to a lender are sorted out very quickly. If you feel the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service who will take matters further.
Having digested plenty of house buying guides, I note that they all recommend that you should get your house surveyed prior to buying it. When I asked my local Queensbury solicitor - who is on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel - on this she said they don't do this and I need to contract an independent surveyor. Is that normal?
Bank of Ireland will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Bank of Ireland 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 Queensbury 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.
Kent Reliance have agreed my home loan in principle, my offer on a flat in Queensbury has been agreed to, what happens next?
The estate agent will need to know who your solicitors are (make sure the conveyancers are on the bank’s approved list). Contact Kent Reliance or your financial adviser and finish off any outstanding documentation. Kent Reliance will instruct a valuer who will get in contact with the selling agent or vendor to book a slot for the valuation to happen. Once carried out (assuming no problems) it takes about ten days to get a mortgage offer. Kent Reliance will send the offer to you and your property lawyers. The transaction will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Queensbury.
I used Action Conveyancing several years past for my conveyancing in Queensbury. I now require my papers but the law firm is no longer operating. What do I do?
You should contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Queensbury of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously retained, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Queensbury from the perspective of expediting the sale process?
- A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Queensbury can be avoided if you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ solicitors. A minority of Queensbury leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers. In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Queensbury leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. If you fail to have the paperwork to hand do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your conveyancer first. If you have had any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over as opposed to ongoing. If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Obtaining a new share certificate is often a time consuming process and frustrates many a Queensbury conveyancing transaction. If a duplicate share is necessary, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.
We have reached the end of our tether in trying to reach an agreement for a lease extension in Queensbury. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?
in cases where there is a absentee landlord or where there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to assess the premium.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a Queensbury premises is 20 Orchard Court Stonegrove in June 2009. The tribunal decided that a premium of £11,040 should be payable for the new lease This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 71.55 years.
Are you able to clarify what options are open to me where my Queensbury conveyancing searches shows negative results?
On the whole, most concerns arising from Queensbury conveyancing search results can be dealt with before completion or indemnity insurance can be obtained. It is crucial to remember that although you may be buying the premises and may be content to accept the search results, your lender may not, and when all said and done they have the word say.