At what point does exchange of contracts take place for purchase conveyancing in Kensington and do I need to be at the solicitors office?
If you are in close proximity to one of the conveyancing solicitors in Kensington you are welcome to attend to sign documents. However, the firms we recommend supply countrywide coverage for conveyancing and give just as detailed and professional a job for you when dealing with you digitally. The signing of the property agreement is not the critical part. A signed contract simply enables the solicitor to officially exchange when the time is right, which will usually be very shortly after signing. The exchange process is is usually a five minute process, although where a lengthy "chain" is in play, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Kensington)to be in the office at the appropriate time.
I'm spending time looking at houses in Kensington and I am now considering a potential offer. Should I already have a property lawyer appointed at this stage? I intend to finance via a home loan with Principality.
You should start requesting conveyancing quotes from solicitors ASAP. Once you decide who you want to use and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and pass their contact information on to the estate agent. As you are getting a mortgage with Principality, ask your prospective lawyers if they are on the Principality conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.
I recently had an offer accepted on a house in Kensington. My mortgage broker recommended their conveyancers. I paid an advanced payment of £175. Soon after, the conveyancer contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Skipton 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 Skipton 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.
My offer was accepted on an apartment in Kensington on 4/4/2024, valuation was booked 4 days later, all came back fine. Solicitor appointed, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Principality and chasing them on my offer, I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Principality conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?
A lender would not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Principality to deal with your lawyer's application to be on the Principality conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitor will be accepted.
three months have gone by following my purchase conveyancing in Kensington completed. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £150,000 when infact I paid £160,000. 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 asset 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 Kensington differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build residence in Kensington contact us having been asked by the housebuilder to exchange contracts and commit to the purchase even before the residence is built. This is because developers in Kensington usually 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 Kensington or who has acted in the same development.
Should I be wary by 3rd parties that I am dealing with are encouraging me to use a national conveyancing firm rather than a High Street Kensington conveyancing firm?
As is the case with many service providers, often referrals from relatives can be extremely useful or valuable. But there are numerous players in a conveyancing transaction; estate agents, financial adviser and lenders may suggest conveyancers to use. Sometimes the conveyancers might be known to one of the organisations as one of the best in their field, but sometimes there behind the scenes commercial relationship behind the endorsement. You are at liberty to select your own lawyer. You need to be aware that the majority of mortgage providers specify a panel list of law firms you must use for the mortgage related work in your house move.