I am considering refinancing my apartment in Belper, does my lawyer have to be on the Yorkshire BS Solicitor panel?
There is nothing to stop you using your solicitor, but Yorkshire BS will insist on their interests being represented by a firm on their conveyancing panel. There is much more potential for delays and confusion with two solicitors involved, and it will undoubtedly be more expensive too.
Is it the case that all Belper CQS (Conveyancing Quality Scheme) solicitors are on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing list of approved firms?
A selection of banks and building societies now use the accreditation scheme as the starting point for Panel approval such as HSBC and Santander. CQS membership however gives no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. Nevertheless,the Council of Mortgage Lenders have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for solicitor practices wishing to join their approved list of firms.
The formalities of my purchase has taken place for my property in Belper. Conveyancing was satisfactory but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about the lender. How do I make a complaint?
All lenders have complaints procedures. Your first port of call should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Services Department at head office. Ordinarily complaints to a lender are sorted out very quickly. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service with full details of your complaint.
After shopping around on the internet I have found a Belper property lawyer having checked that they are on the Nationwide conveyancing panel. Does my lawyer arrange the survey of the property?
Nationwide will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Nationwide will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. Your solicitor will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by your Belper postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with Nationwide, you could contact them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors in Belper.
I am close to exchanging contracts on the sale of our house in Belper and according to the buyers it appears that there is a risk of it being constructed land that was not decontaminated. A high street Belper conveyancer would know this is not the case. It does beg the question why the purchasers used a factory type conveyancing firm rather than a conveyancing solicitor in Belper. Having lived in Belper for 4 years we know of no issue. Should we get in touch with our local Authority to seek clarification need.
It would appear that you have a conveyancing lawyer already. What do they say? You must check with your lawyer before you do anything. It is very possible that once the local authority has been informed of a potential issue it cannot be insured against (a bit like being diagnosed with a serious illness and then taking out life insurance to cover that same sickness)
I have justfound out that Stirling Law have been shut down. They carried out my conveyancing in Belper for a purchase of a leasehold apartment 18 months ago. How can I be sure that my home is not still registered in the name of the previous owner?
The quickest method to check if the property is registered to you, you can make a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of Belper conveyancing specialists.
How do I locate a Belper law firm on the Accord Mortgages Ltd conveyancing panel? I have wheels and am happy to travel upto 20kilometers to meet the conveyancer.
You can use the tool on this page. Please select a bank and your location and you will see a number of Belper conveyancing lawyers locally. We have detailed some Belper conveyancing firms at the bottom of this page and you can ring them to verify if they are on the Accord Mortgages Ltd panel