My home in Martock is up for sale and I have accepted an offer. Will my solicitor have to be required to be on the Nottingham conveyancing panel in order to deal with repayment of my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Nottingham conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their panel criteria fairly frequently in recent years.
Me and my partner are purchasing a flat in Martock. It might be a silly question but how we can trust a solicitor? On completion day we have to deposit funds into their account. What is the protection we have from them run away with our money?
Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.
Forgive me if this question is silly but I am wet behind the ears as FTB of a two bedroom flat in Martock. Do I pick up the keys to the property on completion from my lawyer? If so, I will instruct a local conveyancing solicitor in Martock?
On the day of completion you do not need to attend the conveyancers office in Martock. Conveyancing lawyers for you will transfer the completion advance to the seller's solicitors, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you should be invited to receive the keys from the selling Agents and move into your new home. This tends to happen between 1 and 3pm.
I recently had an offer accepted on an apartment in Martock. My financial adviser suggested a conveyancer. I paid an advanced payment of £175. Soon after, the lawyer called me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the Nottingham conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Nottingham panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
Should our solicitor be making enquiries about flooding during the conveyancing in Martock.
The risk of flooding is if increasing concern for conveyancers dealing with homes in Martock. There are those who acquire a property in Martock, completely aware that at some time, it may suffer from flooding. However, aside from the physical damage, where a house is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to get a mortgage, satisfactory insurance cover, or sell the premises. Steps can be carried out during the course of a property purchase to forewarn the purchaser.
Lawyers are not qualified to offer advice on flood risk, however there are a various searches that may be initiated by the buyer or by their conveyancers which should figure out the risks in Martock. The standard information sent to a purchaser’s conveyancer (where the solicitors are adopting what is known as the Conveyancing Protocol) incorporates a standard inquiry of the owner to discover if the premises has suffered from flooding. If the residence has been flooded in past which is not disclosed by the seller, then a purchaser may issue a legal claim for losses as a result of such an inaccurate response. A buyer’s lawyers should also commission an enviro search. This should indicate if there is a recorded flood risk. If so, additional inquiries will need to be carried out.
My wife and I own a semi-detached Edwardian house in Martock. Conveyancing practitioner acted for me and Norwich and Peterborough Building Society. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are two entries: one for freehold, the second leasehold under the exact same address. I'd like to know for sure, how can I find out??
You need to review the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Martock and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they buy they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with buyers. You can also check the situation with the conveyancing lawyer who conducted the conveyancing.
How does conveyancing in Martock differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build residence in Martock contact us having been asked by the builder to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the property is ready to move into. This is because builders in Martock tend to buy the site, 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 Martock or who has acted in the same development.