My wife and I are looking to purchase a house in Summertown and are in fact using a Summertown conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. HSBC Bank have this evening contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Summertown conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is usual for the purchasers' lawyers 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 Quality 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 solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Summertown lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
I can see plenty of information on this site concerning conveyancing in Summertown but can you isolate your top tip for choosing the right conveyancer in Summertown
It would be unwise to be tempted by the lowest Summertown conveyancing costs illustration. You really do get what you’re paying for when it comes to conveyancing solicitors. A cheap quote may mean that the conveyancing solicitor is handling a lot of jobs at one time and you won’t get the quality of service and the attention that you need. It is, however, wise to use a conveyancer who has a fixed fee on a no sale, no fee basis. This way, you know exactly what you’ll have to pay in ahead of time.
We are getting a further advance on our home loan from HSBC as we wish to carry out improvements to our home in Summertown. Are we obliged to choose a nearby Summertown solicitor on the HSBC conveyancing panel to handle the legals?
HSBC don't usually instruct firms on their conveyancing panel to handle such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the HSBC panel.
My offer on a detached house in Summertown has been accepted, but there is a chain. The vendors have placed an offer on somewhere, however it’s not yet agreed to, and have viewings of other apartments booked. I have chosen a local conveyancing solicitor in Summertown. What should be my next step? At what point do I apply for the mortgage with Bank of Ireland?
It is usual to have apprehensions where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to incur costs too early (mortgage application is approx £1k, then survey, Summertown conveyancing search fees, etc). The first course of action is to check that your solicitor is on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel. As to the subsequent phase this very much dictated by the specifics of your transaction, desire for the property and on the state of the market. During a buoyant market the majority of buyers would apply for a home loan with Bank of Ireland and arrange for the valuation and only if it was satisfactory would they request their conveyancer to move forward with searches.
What will a local search tell me regarding the property we're purchasing in Summertown?
Summertown conveyancing often commences with the applying for local authority searches directly from your local Authority or via a personal search organisations for example Searchflow The local search is essential in every Summertown conveyancing purchase; that is if you don’t want any unpleasant surprises after you move into your new home. The search will reveal information on, amongst other things, details on planning applications applicable 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 thirteen subject areas.
Me and my brother have a semi-detached Edwardian property in Summertown. Conveyancing lawyer represented me and The Royal Bank of Scotland. I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and I saw two entries: the first freehold, the second leasehold under the exact same address. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?
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 Summertown 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 lenders. You can also enquire as to the position with your conveyancing solicitor who conducted the conveyancing.
I am looking for a leasehold apartment up to £305k and found one round the corner in Summertown I like with a park and railway links in the vicinity, the downside is that it only has 51 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Summertown for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error buying a lease with such few years left?
If you need a mortgage that many years will likely be problematic. Discount the offer by the expected lease extension will cost if not already taken into account. If the current proprietor has owned the property for a minimum of twenty four months you can request that they start the process of the extension and pass it to you. An additional ninety years can be extended on to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should consult your conveyancing lawyer concerning this matter.