Why do I have to pay up front for my conveyancing in Southborough?
Where you are retaining lawyers for conveyancing in Southborough your solicitor will request that you place them with monies to cover the the cost of the conveyancing searches. This will be the total of the cost of the conveyancing searches. If any down payment is as part of the purchase price then this should be needed shortly before exchange of contracts. Any further balance that is due will be payable shortly before completion.
My house in Southborough is up for sale and I have a buyer. Will my solicitor need to be on the Santander conveyancing panel in order to deal with paying off my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Santander conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their requirements fairly frequently in recent years.
My solicitor has informed me that lack of right of way insurance is necessary on my purchase. What is the level of cover for Southborough conveyancing?
The right level of lack of right of way indemnity insurance depends on who your lender is. It would differ for example between Barclays and Chelsea Building Society. Conveyancing practitioners as opposed to members of the public take out such policies.
I currently have a mortgage with Principality for my property in Southborough. Conveyancing was finalised months ago. If I am intending to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform Principality?
Principality must be informed of your intention before renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Principality’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies will permit you to let out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Principality directly. You need not do this via a Principality conveyancing panel solicitor.
I have instructed a Southborough property lawyer having made sure that they are on the Nationwide conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
Nationwide will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Nationwide will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. Your conveyancing practitioner will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by your Southborough postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with Nationwide, you could contact them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors in Southborough.
I moved into my home on 4 March and my personal details are still not registered. Need I be worried? My conveyancing solicitor in Southborough said it will be concluded in a couple of weeks. Are titles in Southborough uniquely lengthy to register?
There is nothing unique about conveyancing in Southborough registration formalities. As opposed to being determined by geographic area, timescales can adjust subject to the party submitting the application, whether there are errors and whether the Land registry communicate with any 3rd parties. As of today approximately 80% of such applications are completed in less than three weeks but some can be subject to longer delays. Registration takes place after the purchaser has moved in to the premises so an expedited registration is not typically top priority but where it is urgent that the the registration takes place urgently then you or your conveyancer could communicate with the Registry to express the reasoning for an expedited registration.
How does conveyancing in Southborough differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build residence in Southborough approach us having been asked by the housebuilder to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the premises is constructed. This is because house builders in Southborough usually buy the land, 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 conveyancers 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 Southborough or who has acted in the same development.
My husband and I are purchasing a 2 bedroom flat in Southborough. When we first instructed conveyancing practitioner, we were told they were on all major UK lender panels. The mortgage broker emailed yesterday to advise that they are not on the TSB approved list. Should that be true, what should we do? Should we just pick a different property lawyer that is on their panel or do we pay for dual representation, with TSB selecting their own preferred conveyancer.
Where you are acquiring a property requiring a mortgage it is normal for the purchaser’s solicitors to also act for the mortgage company. In order to act for a bank or building society a lawyer has to be on that lender's list of approved lawyers. An application has to be made by the solicitor to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict conditions which the solicitor has to satisfy. Some building societies now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your conveyancing practitioner should contact TSB 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 TSB's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Southborough lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.