My partner and I are planning to purchase a house in Mulbarton and have instructed a Mulbarton conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Nottingham Building Society have this morning contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Mulbarton lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is usual 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 property lawyer should contact your bank 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 are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Mulbarton solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
The Mulbarton conveyancing firm handling our Mulbarton conveyancing has spotted an inconsistency when comparing the surveyor’s assumptions in the home valuation report and what is revealed within the title deeds. My solicitor has advised that he is obliged to check that the lender is OK with this discrepancy and is content to go ahead. Is my lawyer’s stance right?
Your conveyancer must comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions which do require that your lawyer disclose any incorrect assumptions in the lender’s valuation report and the legal papers. Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your lawyer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for both parties.
I am selling my home in Mulbarton. Will my property lawyer have to be on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel in order to deal with repayment of my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Leeds Building Society 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 conditions fairly frequently in recent years.
What can a local search inform me regarding the house we're purchasing in Mulbarton?
Mulbarton conveyancing often starts with the submitting local authority searches directly from your local Authority or via a personal search organisations such as Onsearch The local search is essential in every Mulbarton conveyancing purchase; as long as you don’t want any unpleasant once you have moved into your property. The search will provide data on, amongst other things, details on planning applications relevant to the premises (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of 13 subject headings.
Me and my brother purchased a terraced Edwardian house in Mulbarton. Conveyancing practitioner represented me and Yorkshire Building Society. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are two entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold with the exact same property. I thought I was buying a freehold how can I check?
You need to assess 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 owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Mulbarton and other locations in 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 enquire as to the position with your conveyancing practitioner who conducted the purchase.