I am selling my home in Leicestershire and the EA has just telephoned to warn that the purchasers are appointing a new property lawyer. I am told that this is due to the fact that the bank will only work with solicitors on their conveyancing panel. On what basis would a leading lender only work with certain law firms rather the firm that they want to choose for their conveyancing in Leicestershire ?
Mortgage companies have always had panels of law firms that can represent them, but in recent years big names such as Nationwide, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for more than 25 years.
Lenders point to the increase in fraud by way of justification for the pruning – criteria have been tightened as a smaller panel is easier to oversee. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society claims that it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms are unaware that they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. Your buyers are not going to have any impact on this.
AssumingI was to buy a simple residential housein Leicestershire mortgage fee and dispense with a survey and no conveyancing searches how much could I expect to to save on my conveyancing in Leicestershire?
The sole saving you would make on is the Leicestershire conveyancing searches. Your conveyancer is required to do the vast majority of work - money laundering, communicating with your sellers property lawyer, SDLT return, register the ownership etc. A slight saving might be made by not having to register a charge but it won't be a lot.
A friend advised me that if I am buying in Leicestershire I should ask my conveyancer to perform a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?
A search of this type is sometimes included in the estimate for your Leicestershire conveyancing searches. It is a large document of about 40 pages, listing and detailing important information about Leicestershire around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the demographics of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, Leicestershire Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data concerning Leicestershire.
The deeds to my property can not be found. The solicitors who dealt with the conveyancing in Leicestershire 4 years ago no longer exist. What do I do?
Gone are the days when you need to have the physical deeds to evidence that you own the land or premises, given that the Land Registry have everything they need in a digital format.
How does conveyancing in Leicestershire differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build premises in Leicestershire contact us having been asked by the seller to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the premises is constructed. This is because new home sellers in Leicestershire tend to buy the real estate, 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 property lawyers 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 used to new build conveyancing in Leicestershire or who has acted in the same development.