I was informed recently by my financial adviser that my Catton property lawyer is not on the mortgage company Conveyancing panel. What can I do to be certain if this is indeed the case?
The first thing you need to do is to contact your Catton lawyer directly. It is reasonable to expect your lawyer to advise you what has happened. Where they are not on the panel they may recommend you to a Catton conveyancing practice that is on the conveyancing panel for your mortgage company.
My fiance and I wish to acquire a newbuild flat in Catton with a loan from Chelsea Building Society.We use our Catton conveyancing solicitor but Chelsea Building Society advised that his firm is not listed on their "panel". we are left little option but to use a Chelsea Building Society panel lawyer or keep our preferred solicitor and fork out for one of their panel ones to represent them. We feel as though this is unjust; Can we not simply insist that Chelsea Building Society use our lawyer?
No, not really. The home loan issued to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that conveyancers must be on the Chelsea Building Society conveyancing panel. in the past, most mortgage companies 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. A further alternative is for your solicitors to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Chelsea Building Society
Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to our house can not be found. The solicitors who dealt with the conveyancing in Catton 10 years ago no longer exist. What are my next steps?
You no longer need to have the physical deeds to evidence that you own the land or premises, as the Land Registry hold details of all registered land or property electronically.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a leasehold apartment up to £305k and found one round the corner in Catton I like with amenity areas and railway links in the vicinity, the downside is that it only has 52 years unexpired on the lease. I can't really find anything else in Catton in this price bracket, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a lease with such few years left?
If you need a home loan that many years will likely be problematic. Discount the offer by the amount the lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the existing owner has owned the property for a minimum of 2 years you could request that they start the process of the extension and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the existing lease term and have £0 ground rent by law. You should speak to your conveyancing lawyer regarding this.
I have been sourcing a conveyancing lawyer in Catton for my house move. Can I check a solicitor's record with the profession’s regulator?
You may see presented Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) decisions arising from investigations from 2008 onwards. Go to Check a solicitor's record. To find records about the period before 1 January 2008, or to check a firm's history, telephone 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 any week day save for Tuesday when lines open at 9.30am. For non-uk callers, call +44 (0)121 329 6800. The regulator could monitor call for training reasons.