I plan on acquiring an apartment in Sprowston. My lawyer has never been on on the mortgage company solicitor list. Am I still permitted to retain my Sprowston conveyancing solicitor notwithstanding that they are not on the bank panel of approved conveyancing solicitors?
Various options include
- Proceed with your chosen Sprowston conveyancer but your mortgage company will need to appoint a conveyancing practitioner from their approved panel. The net result is additional fees and potential delay.
- Appoint a new property lawyer to conduct the conveyancing, ensuring that they are on the lender conveyancing panel.
- Convince your conveyancing practitioner to pull out all the stops to join the lender’s panel of solicitors
Our lawyer has identified a a legal deficiency with the lease for the apartment we are purchasing in Sprowston. The other side have offered title insurance as a solution. We are content with insurance and will pay for it. Our lawyer has advised that he must ensure that the lender is willing to move forward with this solution. Who is the client here, us or the lender?
The short answer to your last question is that, notwithstanding the risk of a conflict of interest, you and the bank are the client. Your conveyancer must comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions require your lawyer to disclose issues such as defects with the lease so that the bank can be afforded the opportunity to check with their valuer as to the extent that the value of the property is affected. Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your property lawyer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for you.
Finally the sale completed on my house in Sprowston last July but our buyer keeps telephoning every few hours to say his solicitor is waiting to hear from mine. What should have happened now that I have sold?
Following your disposal your lawyer is committed to forward the transfer deeds and all of the paperwork to the buyer’s solicitors. If applicable, your conveyancer must also evidence that the legal charge in favour of the lender has been paid off to the purchasers solicitors. There are no post completion requirements peculiar conveyancing in Sprowston.
I am buying a end of terrace house in Sprowston. We would like to an extension at the rear at the property.Will the conveyancing process include investigations to ascertain if these works were previously refused?
Your solicitor should check the deeds as conveyancing in Sprowston can on occasion identify restrictions in the title deeds which prohibit certain alterations or necessitated the consent of another owner. Some extensions need local authority planning permissions and approval under the building regulations. Certain areas are designated conservation areas and special planning restrictions apply which frequently prevent or affect extensions. It would be sensible to check these things with a surveyor ahead of any purchase.
My lawyer has informed me that chancel insurance is needed on my purchase. What is the typical level of cover needed for conveyancing in Sprowston?
The right level of chancel indemnity insurance should be dictated by who your lender. It would differ for example between National Westminster Bank and Coventry Building Society. Conveyancing lawyers as opposed to members of the public take out such insurances.
I have paid off my mortgage with Virgin Money. I assume I don't need a Sprowston conveyancer on the Virgin Money panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.
If you have finished paying off your Virgin Money mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Virgin Money mortgage from the register. Virgin Money, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where Virgin Money has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Virgin Money has instructed the Land Registry to do so
A relative recommended that where I am buying in Sprowston I should ask my conveyancer to carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
This is a search is occasionally quoted for as part of the standard Sprowston conveyancing searches. It is a large document of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out significant information about Sprowston around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Local Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data concerning Sprowston.
How does conveyancing in Sprowston differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build or newly converted property in Sprowston contact us having been asked by the developer to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the house is built. This is because builders in Sprowston typically purchase 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 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 Sprowston or who has acted in the same development.