My fiance and I are hoping to acquire a home in Barkingside and have instructed a Barkingside conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. The Royal Bank of Scotland have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Barkingside lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is conventional 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 lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Barkingside lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
Can I use your services to recommend a Conveyancing solicitor in Barkingside even if I’m not purchasing or disposing of a house, for example if I want to buy an office in Barkingside with a loan from Nationwide Building Society?
Our comparison service is primarily used to locate residential conveyancing solicitors in Barkingside but we have listed at the bottom of this page some Barkingside commercial conveyancing firms. You will need to enquire with the solicitors directly to establish if they are also authorised to represent Nationwide Building Society
My partner and I are downsizing from our home in Barkingside and according to the buyers it appears that there is a possibility that the property was built land that was not decontaminated. Any high street Barkingside lawyer would know this is not the case. It does beg the question why the purchasers used an online conveyancing firm rather than a conveyancing solicitor in Barkingside. Having lived in Barkingside for many years we know of no issue. Should we contact our local Authority to get confirmation that there is no issue.
It would appear that you have a conveyancing firm currently acting for you. Are they able to advise? You must enquire of your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out health insurance to cover that same illness)
Due to the input of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a house in Barkingside before appointing solicitors. I have been told that there is a flying freehold element to the house. My surveyor has said that some banks may not give a loan on this type of premises.
It varies from the lender to lender. HSBC has different instructions for example to Nationwide. If you e-mail us we can check via the relevant lender. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Barkingside. Conveyancing may be slightly more expensive based on your lender's requirements.
We are 18 days into a leasehold purchase having been referred to solicitors by the selling agent to perform conveyancing in Barkingside. We are not happy. Could you help me find new lawyers?
A conveyancer would need to be very poor in order to consider changing them. Has the mortgage been generated? If so you will need to advise them of the new lawyer and get the mortgage documents are re-issued. The conveyancer should be on the lenders approved list to avoid escalating costs and frustration. That should be your starting point. The search tool will assist you in finding a bank approved lawyer for your home move in Barkingside