My husband and I are hoping to buy a property in West Wickham and are in fact using a West Wickham conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Chelsea Building Society have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our West Wickham conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is usual 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor 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 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 West Wickham solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
Some advice if I may. My West Wickham solicitor is informing me me that she is duty bound toapply for West Wickham conveyancing searches due to the fact thatthe firm are on the Nat Westsolicitor panel. Is this really necessary?
Unfortunately both you and your lawyer have little choice here. As you are obtaining a mortgage with a lender your property lawyer has to comply with their conditions as set out in their version of the CML Conveyancing Handbook. Your conveyancing practitioner would have previously signed the Terms and Conditions of your lender’s conveyancing panel appointment which obliges them to follow the CML Handbook conditions . Even if you were a cash buyer you would be ill advised not to carry out West Wickham conveyancing searches.
I am assisting my step-mother sell her property in West Wickham. Does the solicitor order an energy performance certificate or should I organise this?
Following the abolition of Home Information Packs, EPC’s was retained a compulsory part of moving property. An energy assessment needs to be commissioned prior to the property being put on the market. This is not a task that conveyancers ordinarily organise. If you are instructing a West Wickham conveyancing practitioner they may be willing to arrange energy assessments given their contacts with long established local assessors
This question may be naive but I am new to the home moving as FTB of a two bedroom flat in West Wickham. Do I receive the keys to the property on the completion date from my solicitor? If this is the case, I will use a High Street conveyancing solicitor in West Wickham?
There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Your solicitors will transfer the purchase money to the seller's conveyancers, and once they have received this, you should be called to receive the keys from the property Agents and move into your new home. Usually this occurs early afternoon.
I currently have a mortgage with Lloyds for my property in West Wickham. Conveyancing has been completed some time ago. In the event that I decide 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 Lloyds?
Lloyds must be informed of your intention before letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Lloyds’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 Lloyds directly. You need not do this via a Lloyds conveyancing panel solicitor.
How does conveyancing in West Wickham differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build premises in West Wickham contact us having been asked by the builder to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the premises is built. This is because new home sellers in West Wickham tend to acquire 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 conveyancing solicitors 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 accustomed to new build conveyancing in West Wickham or who has acted in the same development.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I have offered on two weeks back in what should have been a quick, no chain conveyancing. West Wickham is the location of the property. Can you shed any light on this issue?
Flying freeholds in West Wickham are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside West Wickham you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds thoroughly. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in West Wickham may ascertain that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.
Hoping to buy a property located in West Wickham and I am already nervous. I couldn't find anything specific about West Wickham. Conveyancing will be needed in due course but do you know about the West Wickham area? or perhaps some other tips you can share?
Rather than looking online forget looking online you should go and have a look at West Wickham. In the meantime here are some basic statistics that we found