Me and my partner are purchasing a 2 bedroom apartment in Riddlesdown with a mortgage. We have a Riddlesdown lawyer, but the lender says he's not on their "panel". It appears that we have no option but to appoint one of the bank panel solicitors or keep our Riddlesdown property lawyer and pay for one of their panel firms to represent them. This seems very unfair; is there anything we can do?
Unfortunately,no. Your mortgage offer is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the lender’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. A further alternative is for your Riddlesdown conveyancing lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
My partner and I intend to remortgage our penthouse in Riddlesdown with HSBC. We have a son approaching twenty who lives with us. Our solicitor requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who lives in the flat. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the flat is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of concerns (1) Is this document specific to the HSBC conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we purchased 3 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this compromise his rights to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your HSBC conveyancing panel solicitor is doing the right thing as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to HSBC. This is solely used to protect HSBC if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave. It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of HSBC had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.
My lawyer in Riddlesdown is not on the Coventry Building Society Approved Panel. Can I still retain my prefered solicitor even though they are not on the Coventry Building Society panel?
The limited options open to you here include:
- Complete the purchase with your preferred Riddlesdown solicitors but Coventry Building Society will need to instruct a solicitor on their list of acceptable firms. This will result in additional overall conveyancing fees as well as cause frustration.
- Choose an alternative solicitor to to deal with the purchase, obviously checking they are Convince your lawyer to use their best endeavours to join the Coventry Building Society conveyancing panel
I used Arc property Solicitors a few years past for my conveyancing in Riddlesdown. I now require my file however the law firm is no longer operating. What do I do?
You should call 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 Riddlesdown of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously used, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
I need to find a conveyancing solicitor for sale conveyancing in Riddlesdown. I've chance upon a site which appears to be the perfect solution If there is a chance to get all the legals done via email that would be ideal. Do I need to be wary? What are the potential pitfalls?
As usual with these online conveyancers you need to read ALL the small print - did you notice the extra charge for dealing with the mortgage?
What advice do you have for searching for reasonably priced conveyancing in Riddlesdown?
First ask your friends and family they would would seek assistance from. Second, search the web for conveyancing in Riddlesdown. Phone two or three from the list and ask them to send you their conveyancing charges and speak to the lawyer who will handle your conveyancing before you commit. Option 3 is to make use of our search tool to help you find the right solicitors for you based on your unique factors including location,speed, complexity and who the proposed lender is.Resist the temptation to appoint £99 conveyancing solicitors in Riddlesdown