My wife and I are planning to purchase a flat in Bexleyheath and have appointed a Bexleyheath conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Norwich and Peterborough Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Bexleyheath lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors 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 Quality 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 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 Bexleyheath lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
The vendors of the home we are looking to purchase are using a conveyancing practitioner in Bexleyheath who has insisted on a preliminary contract with a down payment two thousand pounds. Is it wise to enter into such agreements?
There are a couple of main downsides with executing a lock out agreement (occasionally referred to as a no-shop agreement) is that it diverts attention away from making progress with the conveyancing work, so unless it requires minimal or no negotiation then it may transpire to be a hindrance. It is not strongly advocated amongst Bexleyheath conveyancing solicitors as a result. A supplemental issue is the extent of the remedies available - an aggrieved buyer is extremely unlikely to be granted an injunction to bar the seller selling to an alternative purchaser, so the only remedy open via the agreement will be the recovery of abortive charges and, in rare situations, the additional payment of damages.
I bought my house on 13 June and my personal details is not yet on the land registry website. Need I be worried? My conveyancing solicitor in Bexleyheath expressed confidence that it would be registered in a couple of weeks. Are transfers in Bexleyheath particularly slow to register?
As far as conveyancing in Bexleyheath registration is no quicker or slower than the rest of England and Wales. As opposed to being determined by geographic area, timeframes can vary depending on the party submitting the application, whether it is in order and whether the Land registry must send notices to any 3rd parties. Currently roughly three quarters of such applications are fully addressed within 12 days but some can be subject to longer delays. Registration is effected after the purchaser is living at the premises thus 'speed' is not always top priority yet if there is a degree of urgency associated with the registration then you or your solicitor should speak with the land registry and explain the circumstances.
My husband and I are 17 days into a residential purchase having been referred to solicitors by the local agent to execute conveyancing in Bexleyheath. We are not happy. Can you help me find new lawyers?
A solicitor would need to be really poor to suggest changing them. Has the mortgage offer been sent? In the event that it has you will need to advise them of the new lawyer and have the mortgage documents are issued to the new lawyers. Your new solicitor ideally needs to be on the banks panel to avoid escalating expenses and complications. So that should be your starting point. Our search tool will assist you in finding a lender approved solicitor for your conveyancing in Bexleyheath
Having used your search tool I can't find the lawyer I was hoping to instruct as being on the bank conveyancing panel. My lawyer has said that they are on the bank approved panel. How can I be sure given that they are not listed on your directory?
Not all firms are yet listed on our lender panel search tool which is still relatively new. Law firms are listing on a daily basis and it is probably the case that your lawyer is on the mortgage company conveyancing lawyer and you should probably take them at their word. Please do feel free to suggest that they completing their listing on our site as it would only cost them £1 a month to list themselves as being on the bank solicitor panel.