My fiance and I are looking to acquire a home in Rayleigh and have instructed a Rayleigh conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Godiva Mortgages Ltd have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Rayleigh solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is usual 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 Accreditation 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 are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Rayleigh solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
In what way does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in Rayleigh? Why is this being asked of me?
It is indeed that case that these requests have nothing to do with conveyancing in Rayleigh. Nowadays you can not complete any conveyancing process if you have not submitting evidence of your identity. Ordinarily this takes the form of a either your passport or driving licence and a bank statement. Please note that if you are supplying your driving licence as evidence of ID it must be both the paper part as well as the photo card part, one is not sufficient in the absence of the other.
Proof of the source of monies is required in accordance with the Money Laundering Regulations. Don’t be offended when when this is requested of you as your conveyancing solicitor must retain this information on file. Your Rayleigh conveyancing solicitor will require evidence of proof of funds before they are able to accept any monies from you into their client account and they may also ask additional questions regarding the source of funds.
This question may be naive but I am unseasoned as a 1st time purchaser of a ground floor flat in Rayleigh. Do I collect the keys to the property on completion from my lawyer? If this is the case, I will use a local conveyancing solicitor in Rayleigh?
There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Your solicitors will transfer the completion advance to the owner’s lawyers, and once they have received this, you will be invited to receive the keys from the property Agents and move into your new home. This tends to happen early afternoon.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with Clydesdale. I assume I don't need a Rayleigh solicitor on the Clydesdale panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your Clydesdale 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 Clydesdale mortgage from the register. Clydesdale, 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 Clydesdale has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Clydesdale has instructed the Land Registry to do so
HSBC have agreed my home loan in principle, my bid on a property in Rayleigh has been accepted, what happens next?
Your estate agent will want to be informed of your conveyancing practitioner's details (ensure that the conveyancers are on the bank’s panel). Contact HSBC or your broker and finish off any outstanding forms. HSBC will sellect a valuer who will get in touch with the selling agent or owners to book a time for the valuation to take place. Once conducted (assuming no problems) it takes on average a fortnight to get a mortgage offer. HSBC will send the offer to you and your conveyancers. The legal work will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Rayleigh.
I need some quick conveyancing in Rayleigh as I have an ultimatum to complete in less than one month. A home loan is not required. Is it possible to decline from having conveyancing searches to save fees and time?
As you are not taking a mortgage you have the choice not to have searches conducted although no lawyer would suggest that you don't. With lots of history conveyancing in Rayleigh the following are examples of issues that can show up and adversely impact market value: Enforcement Notices, Outstanding Fees, Overdue Grants, Railway Schemes,...
Just had an offer accepted on a new build flat in Rayleigh. Conveyancing is necessary evil at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build legal work.
Set out below are examples of a few leasehold new build enquiries that you should expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Rayleigh
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If there are lifts in the building, please confirm that the owners of flats on the ground and basement floors will not be required to contribute towards the cost of maintenance and renewal. Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. Please supply a car parking plan. Please confirm the Lease plans are surveyor prepared. Please supply evidence that the form of Lease proposed has been approved by the Land Registry.
How difficult is it to swap solicitor as I need to select one who is on the Chelsea Building Society conveyancing panel. I hired a local conveyancing solicitor in Rayleigh round the corner but the firm is not accepted by Chelsea Building Society
We will our best to assist in finding you a conveyancing solicitor in Rayleigh on the Chelsea Building Society panel. Please note that the solicitors that we on the directory do not pay us commission if you instruct them and are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority who oversee all conveyancing solicitors in Rayleigh. Using the find a conveyancing solicitor tool on this page, you can scrutinise fees for conveyancing solicitors in Rayleigh and beyond.