My husband and I are looking to buy a property in New Southgate and have appointed a New Southgate conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. The Royal Bank of Scotland have this evening contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our New Southgate solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
If you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent the mortgage company. 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 bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own New Southgate solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
I am buying a property and the solicitor has raised the issue of Chancel Repair for which the property could be liable because it falls into the area of such a church. He has mentioned insurance. Is this strictly required for conveyancing in New Southgate
Unless a prior purchase of the premises took place after 12 October 2013 you may assume that lawyers delivering conveyancing in New Southgate to continue to suggest a chancel search and or insurance against a claim.
I have a 4 bedroom Georgian house in New Southgate. Conveyancing lawyer represented 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: the first freehold, another for leasehold with the exact same address. I'd like to know for sure, how can I find out??
You need to assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for 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 New Southgate and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they remortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with mortgage companies. You can also check the position with the conveyancing practitioner who conducted the conveyancing.
How does conveyancing in New Southgate differ for new build properties?
Most buyers of new build or newly converted property in New Southgate contact us having been asked by the housebuilder to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the residence is constructed. This is because house builders in New Southgate tend to purchase 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 conveyancers 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 New Southgate or who has acted in the same development.
I need to retain a conveyancing solicitor for sale conveyancing in New Southgate. I happened to stumble across a site which seems to have the perfect answer If it is possible to get all the legals done via phone that would be preferable. Do I need to be wary? What should out be looking out for?
As usual with these online conveyancers you need to read ALL the small print - did you notice the extra charge for dealing with the mortgage?