My husband and I are looking to buy a home in Rawcliffe and have appointed a Rawcliffe conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Chelsea Building Society have this evening contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Rawcliffe conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for 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 solicitor should contact your lender 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 bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Rawcliffe 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.
When it comes to lenders such as Skipton, do Rawcliffe conveyancing practitioners have to pay a fee to be on the conveyancing panel?
We are unaware of any mortgage company fees to be on their list of approved firms, although some do levy an administration charge to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel application.
We are getting a further advance on our mortgage from Clydesdale as we intend to conduct a loft conversion to our home in Rawcliffe. Are we obliged to choose a high street Rawcliffe solicitor on the Clydesdale conveyancing panel to handle the paperwork?
Clydesdale would not normally require firms on their approved list of lawyers to handle the formalities. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Clydesdale list.
Our offer on a detached house in Rawcliffe has been agreed to, the sellers do nevertheless have a dependent purchase. The sellers have offered on on an apartment, however it’s not yet tied up, and have viewings of other flats in the pipeline. I have selected a bricks and mortar conveyancing solicitor in Rawcliffe. What do I do now? At what stage should I apply for the mortgage with Barclays?
It is understandable to have concerns where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to incur expenses prematurely (mortgage application is in the region of £1k, then valuation, Rawcliffe conveyancing search charges, etc). First, you must ensure that your lawyer is on the Barclays conveyancing panel. Concerning the subsequent steps this very much dictated by the specifics of your case, desire for the property and on the state of the market. During a hot market some buyers would apply for a home loan with Barclays and arrange for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they ask their property lawyer to press on with the conveyancing in Rawcliffe.
It has been 2 months since my purchase conveyancing in Rawcliffe took place. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £175,000 when infact I paid £215,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the premises from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
How does conveyancing in Rawcliffe differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build property in Rawcliffe come to us having been asked by the seller to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the residence is finished. This is because house builders in Rawcliffe typically 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 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 accustomed to new build conveyancing in Rawcliffe or who has acted in the same development.
I need to appoint a conveyancing solicitor for my conveyancing in Rawcliffe. I happened to stumble upon a site which appears to be the perfect offering If there is a chance to get all the legals done via web that would be preferable. Should I be concerned? 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?