My husband and I are hoping to purchase a house in Taffs Well and have appointed a Taffs Well conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Norwich and Peterborough Building Society have this evening contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Taffs Well conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
If you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for 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 mortgage company 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 and you may continue to use your own Taffs Well solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
The housing market in Taffs Well is heating up. What can be done to accelerate the buying process?
Where the seller is applying time constraints to sign contracts we would recommend that your conveyancer is familiar with the location as they will benefit local contacts and intelligence. It is even conceivable that they would have handled otherproperties in the same road. Therefore consider using a Taffs Well conveyancing firm. Second, double check that the conveyancing firm is on the lender panel. It is said that 18% of Taffs Well conveyancing transactions are suspended or derailed after finding out that a purchaser’s lawyer was not on their mortgage lender’s member panel. In many cases this discovery resulted in the home move being held up by an average of 21 days. It is estimated that this issue impacts approximately 100,000 home moves annually. Almost all Taffs Well conveyancing practices can not represent certain mortgage companies so do check at the outset.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up during conveyancing in Taffs Well?
Covenants that are restrictive in nature can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in Taffs Well. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
I have been advised by numerous estate agents in Taffs Well to find a conveyancer on your site. What’s the financial incentive for Estate Agents to recommend your services over and above a competitor’s?
We don’t make any commission for pointing buyers and sellers in our direction. We found it would be just too difficult a fee because members of the public would think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I receiving any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.
Should I appoint a Taffs Well conveyancing solicitor based in the vicinity that I am purchasing? I have an old university friend who can conduct the legal formalities but her office is 300kilometers away.
The primary upside of using a high street Taffs Well conveyancing firm is that you can drop in to sign documents, hand in your ID and apply pressure on them where appropriate. Having local Taffs Well know how is a bonus. However it's more important to get someone that will do a good and efficient job. If if people you trust used your friend and on the whole were impressed that must surpass using an unknown Taffs Well conveyancing lawyer just because they are local.
Can you offer any advice when it comes to finding a Taffs Well conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?
If you are instructing a property lawyer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Taffs Well conveyancing firm) it is essential that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We recommend that you speak with several firms including non Taffs Well conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. The following questions might be of use:
-
What are the legal fees for lease extension conveyancing? Can they put you in touch with clients in Taffs Well who can give a testimonial?
Taffs Well Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing
-
What restrictions exist in the Taffs Well Lease? How much is the service charge and ground rent on the flat? It is important to be aware whether a new roof is being installed or some other major work is coming up that will be shared amongst the leaseholders and will materially increase the the maintenance fees or necessitate a one time payment.