My wife and I are hoping to acquire a home in Sudbury and have appointed a Sudbury conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Platform Home Loans Ltd have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Sudbury solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is normal 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 Quality Scheme. Your property lawyer 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 lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Sudbury lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
I have given 8 weeks notice to my current landlord and must be out of my rented property in Sudbury by the end of next month. Conveyancing on my purchase has just started. Is it possible to complete in 5 weeks as I wish to avoid having to find temporary accommodation?
The normal practice is not to provide notice on a rental unless you have exchanged. Assuming that you have not already done so, update to your solicitor and urge them to they seek the assistance the other lawyers, try to get a realistic time scale from them that everyone will look to achieve
Can you clarify what the consequences are if my solicitor is expelled from the Kent Reliance Solicitor panel ahead of completing my conveyancing in Sudbury?
The first thing to point out is that, this is very unlikely to happen. 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 at a cost.
Do I need to take out insurance to protect me from financial exposure to chancel repairs when acquiring a residence in Sudbury?
Unless a previous acquisition of the property completed after 12 October 2013 you could take it that conveyancing practitioners delivering conveyancing in Sudbury to continue to suggest a chancel search and or insurance against a claim.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £235,500 and identified one near me in Sudbury I like with open areas and railway links nearby, the downside is that it only has 52 years on the lease. There is not much else in Sudbury suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake purchasing a lease with such few years left?
If you require a mortgage the shortness of the lease may be problematic. Discount the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the property for at least twenty four months you can ask them to start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the existing lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing solicitor about this matter.
Living abroad I am unable to visit my Sudbury conveyancing practitioners office to execute documents for conveyancing in Sudbury – is this a problem?
You need not be concerned. Sudbury conveyancing solicitors can handle home moves for clients throughout the rest of the country. You are unlikely to be required to meet your lawyer in the flesh at a Sudbury conveyancers office. Almost all solicitor can deal with everything via post, email, telephone and fax.
