My wife and I are hoping to buy a property in Rise Park and have instructed a Rise Park conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Bank of Ireland have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Rise Park conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
If you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers 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 lender and see if they can apply for membership of their conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable they will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Rise Park lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
A colleague recommended that where I am purchasing in Rise Park I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is occasionally included in the estimate for your Rise Park conveyancing searches. It is not a small document of about 40 pages, listing and detailing significant information about Rise Park around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average House Prices, Crime statistics, Local Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information about Rise Park.
I have justdiscovered that Wolstenholmes have closed. They conducted my conveyancing in Rise Park for a purchase of a leasehold flat 12 months ago. How can I be sure that my home is in my name in the name of the former proprietor?
The easiest method to check if the premises is registered to you, you can carry out 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 Rise Park conveyancing specialists.
How does conveyancing in Rise Park differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build premises in Rise Park come to us having been asked by the builder to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the house is ready to move into. This is because new home sellers in Rise Park 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 Rise Park or who has acted in the same development.
Am I best advised to choose a Rise Park conveyancing solicitor who is local to the property I am hoping to buy? I have an old university friend who can conduct the conveyancing but her office is over three hundred miles drive away.
The primary upside of using a local Rise Park conveyancing practice is that you can pop in to execute paperwork, present your identification documents and pester them where appropriate. They will also have local knowledge which is a benefit. However nothing is more important than finding someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If if people you trust used your friend and in the main were impressed that must trump using an unknown Rise Park conveyancing lawyer solely due to them being local.
Do I stop the direct debit for my mortgage with Lloyds as soon as a completion date for my sale in Rise Park has been set?
No, you must continue meeting any mortgage payments to Lloyds until the mortgage is redeemed on completion as part of your Rise Park conveyancing.