My husband and I are hoping to buy a flat in Victoria and are in fact using a Victoria conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Yorkshire Building Society have this morning contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Victoria conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage 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 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 Victoria solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
We are purchasing a property and require a conveyancing solicitor in Victoria who is on the RBS approved panel. Could you point me in the right direction as regards a solicitor?
Our service is limited to being a directory service for firms who wish to be listed as being on the approved conveyancing panel for RBS . We don't recommend any particular firms conducting conveyancing in Victoria.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up as part of conveyancing in Victoria?
Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the legal transfer of property in Victoria. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
How difficult is it to swap conveyancer as I have to select a firm on the Accord Mortgages Ltd conveyancing panel. I was using a family conveyancing solicitor in Victoria five minutes from me but she is not approved by Accord Mortgages Ltd
It would be our pleasure to assist you find a conveyancing solicitor in Victoria on the Accord Mortgages Ltd panel. Please note that the law firms that we work with do not pay us a referral fee if you instruct them and are authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority who oversee all conveyancing solicitors in Victoria. Using search facility on this site, you can compare fees for conveyancing solicitors in Victoria and beyond.
How does one as executor remove a departed person's name from the title register for a property in Victoria?
Where a Victoria property is co-owned and one of the proprietors dies, their name will not immediately be removed from the Land Registry title. It is not necessary to amend the title as when it comes to a sale you would simply be asked to supply proof as to the reason the co proprietor is not a party to the conveyance, usually this takes the form of the probate documents.
With a view to making the sale conveyancing smoother for the sale of the property you can apply to have the deceased party removed from the title by submitting an application to the land registry with proof of the death. There is no charge from the Registry for this service.