My fiance and I are planning to acquire a flat in City Of London and have instructed a City Of London conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Nationwide Building Society have this evening contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our City Of London lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
If you are buying a property with the assistance of 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 Accreditation 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred City Of London lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
We are approaching an exchange on a flat in City Of London and my parents have transferred the 10% deposit to my conveyancer. I am now told that as the deposit has not arrived from me my property lawyer needs to disclose this to my mortgage company. Apparently, in also acting for the mortgage company he must inform them that the balance of the purchase price is coming from anyone other than me. I informed the bank concerning my parents' contribution when I applied for the home loan, so is it really appropriate for this now to hold matters up?
Your solicitor is legally required to check with mortgage company to ensure that they understand that the balance of the purchase price is not from your own resources. The solicitor can only reveal this to your bank if you agree, failing which, your lawyer must cease to continue acting.
Are the BSA planning on creating a online directory to list solicitors on the Loughborough BS conveyancing panel for example in City Of London?
Lexsure has not been advised of any intention on the part of the BSA to promote such a tool.
My father pointed out to me me that in buying a property in City Of London there could be a number of restrictions limiting what one can do in terms of external changes to a property. Is this right?
We are aware of a number of properties in City Of London which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to external alterations. Part of the conveyancing in City Of London should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.
We previously appointed conveyancing lawyers locally in City Of London on the Lloyds solicitor panel. They are now charging me a further sum for dealing with the Lloyds mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee set by Lloyds?
Provided it is contained in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your conveyancer can levy a fee for this. The charge is not dictated by Lloyds but by your City Of London conveyancing practitioner. Some firms on the Lloyds panel will quote ’dealing with mortgage’ fee and others do not.
Our offer on a property in City Of London has been accepted, the vendors do nevertheless have a connected purchase. The sellers have offered on a flat, but it’s not been accepted yet, and are looking at other apartments booked. I have instructed a high street conveyancing solicitor in City Of London. What should be my next step? At what stage should I apply for the mortgage with Yorkshire BS?
It is normal to have concerns where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to incur costs too early (home loan application is approx £1k, then survey, City Of London conveyancing search charges, etc). First, you must check that your conveyancing practitioner is on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel. Concerning the next steps this very much depends on the uniqueness of your case, motivation for this property and on the state of the market. During a buoyant market the majority of purchasers will apply for the mortgage with Yorkshire BS and pay for the valuation and only if it was satisfactory would they pay their solicitor to proceed with searches.
In what way can the Landlord & Tenant Act 1954 impact my commercial property in City Of London and how can your lawyers assist?
The particular law that you refer to gives a safeguard to commercial lessees, granting the a statutory right to make a request to court for a new lease and remain in occupation when the lease reaches an end. There are limited grounds that a landlord can refrain from granting a lease renewal and the rules are complex. Fees are different for commercial conveyancing. City Of London is one of our hundreds of areas of the UK in which the firms we work with are located