My fiance and I are looking to purchase a home in Selby and have instructed a Selby conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Lloyds TSB Bank have this evening contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Selby lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the purchaser's lender. 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 lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Selby lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
My wife and I are buying a newly constructed duplex in Selby and my conveyancer is advising me that she has to the lender to disclose incentives from the seller. I am nearing the developer’s deadline to exchange contracts and I would rather not delay deal. is my lawyer playing by the book?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your lawyer. A precondition to being on a lender panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
As a FTB what is the most important piece of guidance you can impart concerning purchase conveyancing in Selby?
You may not hear this from too many lawyers but conveyancing in Selby or throughout North Yorkshire is an adversarial experience. In other words, when it comes to conveyancing there is an abundance of opportunity for conflict between you and other parties involved in the ownership transfer. E.g., the seller, property agent and on occasion the mortgage company. Selecting a law firm for your conveyancing in Selby is a critical decision as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the ONLY person in the process whose interest is to protect your legal interests and to keep you safe.
We are witnessing a definite ongoing adversarial element to conveyancing- someone has to be at fault for the process being so protracted. You your first instinct should be to trust your solicitor ahead of the other parties when it comes to the legal transfer of property.
Do the Building Society Association intend to launch a search tool with a view to to identify firms on the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society conveyancing panel for instance in Selby?
We have not been informed any intention on the part of the BSA to promote such a register.
Is it necessary to take out insurance to protect me from financial exposure to chancel repairs when purchasing a property in Selby?
Unless a prior purchase of the house completed post 12 October 2013 you may take it that conveyancing practitioners carrying out conveyancing in Selby to continue to suggest a chancel search and or chancel repair liability policy.
My wife and I have a renovated Edwardian property in Selby. Conveyancing solicitor acted for me and Aldermore. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw a couple of entries: one for freehold, the second leasehold under the exact same address. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?
You should assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Selby and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they remortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with mortgage companies. You can also enquire as to the position with the conveyancing lawyer who conducted the conveyancing.