My husband and I are planning to purchase a home in Seaforth and are in fact using a Seaforth conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Santander have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Seaforth lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' lawyers 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 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 as you are at liberty to use your preferred Seaforth lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
I am need of leasehold conveyancing for an apartment in a relatively new development (five years built) in Seaforth. The vast majority the flats have already been disposed of. Do I need carry out the local searches as part of conveyancing in Seaforth?
You would be putting yourself at risk in failing carrying out Seaforth conveyancing searches. Without searches you have no clarity over flooding, environmental etc which may mean you walk away due to potential problems down the line. If you are buying without a mortgage there is no legal requirement to have them, but we would seriously advise in no uncertain terms that your conveyancer conducts them. If timings and price are top of your concerns you should discuss with your conveyancer about the option of search insurance
At what point can the exchange of contracts take place for residential conveyancing in Seaforth and do I need to be at the conveyancers branch?
If you are in close proximity to our conveyancing solicitors in Seaforth you are welcome to attend to sign the paperwork. However, the lender approved solicitors we work with offer a national conveyancing service and give just as diligent and professional a job for you when communicating with you by post or email. The executing of the property agreement is not the important part. Signing on the dotted line simply enables the firm to exchange contracts when the time is right, which is ordinarily shortly after signing. The exchange process is is usually a five minute process, although where an extended "chain" is involved, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Seaforth)to be in the office at the appropriate time.
Can you clarify what the consequences are if my lawyer’s firm is expelled from the Barclays Solicitor panel ahead of completing my conveyancing in Seaforth?
The first thing to point out is that, this is a very rare occurrence. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have to instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by a regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit for a fee.
My husband and I are novice buyers - agreed a price, but the agent advised that the vendor will only go ahead if we instruct the agent's chosen solicitors as they are insisting on an ‘expedited deal’. My instinct tells me that we should use a local solicitor with experience of conveyancing in Seaforth
It is unlikely the vendors are driving this. If they require ‘a quick sale', alienating a genuine purchaser is is going to put the whole deal at risk. Bypass the agents and go straight to the sellers and make the point that (a)you are keen to buy (b)you are excited to move forward, with mortgage lined up © you are chain free (d) you wish to move quickly (e)but you intend to use your own,trusted Seaforth conveyancing firm - rather thanthe ones that will give their estate agent a commission or hit his conveyancing figures set by head office.
Is there a reason that Seaforth conveyancing costs are higher for leasehold and freehold properties?
There is always increased work required for leasehold conveyancing. Seaforth has many leasehold properties. There is more hours involved in the purchase: for example, the lease and leasehold information (including current service charge, ground rent and buildings insurance details) obtained from the freeholder or managing agents. There are strict criteria that the lease must meet in order to be acceptable to a mortgage company. If it does not meet these requirements, the lease must be amended, which can involve additional expense for the seller.