My wife and I are planning to acquire a home in Buckfastleigh and have appointed a Buckfastleigh conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Clydesdale have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Buckfastleigh solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for 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 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 Buckfastleigh solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
As someone not used to conveyancing in Buckfastleigh what’s your top tip you can give me concerning the house moving process in Buckfastleigh
You may not hear this from too many lawyers but conveyancing in Buckfastleigh or throughout England and Wales is an adversarial experience. Put another way, when it comes to conveyancing there exists an abundance of room for confrontation between you and others involved in the home moving process. For example, the vendor, property agent and on occasion the mortgage company. Appointing a law firm for your conveyancing in Buckfastleigh is a critical decision as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the ONE party in the process whose interest is to act in your best interests and to keep you safe.
Every so often a potential adversary will try and persuade you that you should follow their advice. For instance, the estate agent may claim to be helping by claiming that your lawyer is dragging his heels. Or your financial adviser may try to convince you to do take action that is contrary to your lawyers recommendation. You should always trust your lawyer above all other parties in the conveyancing process.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold issue on a house I have offered on two weeks back in what should have been a simple, no chain conveyancing. Buckfastleigh is the location of the property. Is there any advice you can give?
Flying freeholds in Buckfastleigh are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Buckfastleigh you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds very carefully. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Buckfastleigh may decide that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.
In my capacity as executor for the estate of my uncle I am disposing of a house in Monmouth but reside in Buckfastleigh. My solicitor (who is 260 miles awayrequires that I execute a statutory declaration prior to completion. Could you suggest a conveyancing lawyer in Buckfastleigh who can witness this legal document for me?
strictly speaking you are unlikely to need to have the documents witnessed by a conveyancing solicitor. Normally any notary public or solicitor will suffice regardless of whether they are Buckfastleigh based
Much to my surprise my solicitor in Buckfastleigh has informed me that he requires personal identification documents saying that this is part of his obligations as a conveyancer on the mortgage company Conveyancing panel. Is this right?
Due to Money Laundering Regulations your conveyancing lawyer is duty bound to confirm positively your identification when entering into a business relationship with you. It is a criminal offence if your lawyer not do this. If you do not provide ID early in the transaction the solicitor must refuse to act for you. It’s unlikely a lawyer will turn you away if you come to the first meeting without relevant ID but you will have to produce it at some point so you might as well bring it with you to the initial meeting so the lawyer can tick the ID verification box and start sorting out the conveyancing straight away. If you are getting a mortgage, your lawyer also has to check ID documents to satisfy the lender. This is not unique to conveyancing in Buckfastleigh