My fiance and I are hoping to purchase a house in Birkenshaw and are in fact using a Birkenshaw conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Aldermore have this evening contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Birkenshaw conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
Where you are buying a property needing 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer should contact your bank 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 Birkenshaw solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
My fiance and I decided to purchase a 3 bedroom apartment in Birkenshaw with a homeloan from Alliance & Leicester .We like our Birkenshaw conveyancing practitioner but Alliance & Leicester says his firm is not listed on their "panel". It seems we are left with little choice but to instruct a Alliance & Leicester panel solicitor or keep our preferred solicitor and fork out for one of their panel ones to represent them. This seems very unfair; is there anything we can do?
No, not really. The home loan issued to you contains terms and conditions, a common one being that lawyers must be on the Alliance & Leicester approved list. Until recently, most banks had large numbers of solicitors on their panels: a borrower could find one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. Another option that might be available is for your lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Alliance & Leicester
I used Wolstenholmes a few years past for my conveyancing in Birkenshaw. Now, I need the files but the law firm is no longer operating. What do I do?
Do call the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Birkenshaw of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously retained, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
Am I best advised to instruct a Birkenshaw conveyancing solicitor who is local to the property I am buying? I have an old university friend who can deal with the conveyancing however his firm is located 300miles drive away.
The benefit of a local Birkenshaw conveyancing firm is that you can attend the office to sign documents, deliver your identification documents and apply pressure on them where appropriate. Having local Birkenshaw know how is a bonus. That being said nothing is more important than finding someone that will do a good and efficient job. If you know people who used your friend and the majority were happy that must outweigh using an unfamiliar Birkenshaw conveyancing lawyer solely due to them being round the corner.
I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Birkenshaw. Before I set the wheels in motion I want to be sure as to the number of years remaining on the lease.
Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and almost all are in Birkenshaw - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title. For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.
I bought a leasehold flat in Birkenshaw, conveyancing having been completed 6 years ago. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Similar flats in Birkenshaw with a long lease are worth £202,000. The ground rent is £60 invoiced every year. The lease finishes on 21st October 2083
You have 57 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £28,500 and £33,000 as well as costs.
The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs in the absence of detailed due diligence. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.