The owners of the house we are hoping to buy have instructed a conveyancing practitioner in Cheetham who has insisted on a preliminary contract with a payment 6,000. Are such agreements sensible?
Exclusivity agreements are contracts between a property owner and prospective acquirer giving the buyer the sole right to purchase the premises for a certain period of time. Essentially, a lock out agreement is a contract specifying that you should be issued with a contract at a later time which is the main conveyancing contract. It tends to be utilised for buyer confidence though in many situations, the owner may stand to benefit from such agreements as well. There are numerous positives and negatives to having them but you should to check with your conveyancer but note that it may end up costing you extra in conveyancing charges. In light of these reasons these agreements are rare when it comes to conveyancing in Cheetham.
Please explain the implications if my solicitor is removed from the Bank of Ireland Solicitor panel ahead of completing my conveyancing in Cheetham?
The first thing to point out is that, this is very unlikely to happen. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have to instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by a regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit at a cost.
My wife and I are downsizing from our property in Cheetham and the buyers lawyers are claiming that there is a possibility that the property was constructed land that was not decontaminated. Any local lawyer would know this is not the case. It does beg the question why the purchasers used an online conveyancing firm rather than a conveyancing solicitor in Cheetham. Having lived in Cheetham for 5 years we know that this is a non issue. Do we get in touch with our local Authority to get clarification that there is no issue.
It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing firm already. What do they say? You need to 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 health insurance to cover that same ailment)
I have a renovated Victorian house in Cheetham. Conveyancing solicitor acted for me and Barclays . I happened to do a free search for it on the Land Registry database and there are two entries: the first freehold, another for leasehold under the matching property. I'd like to know for sure, how can I find out??
You should assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Cheetham and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they remortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with buyers. You can also check the position with the conveyancing solicitor who conducted the purchase.
Am I best advised to use a Cheetham conveyancing solicitor who is local to the property I am buying? We have a good friend who can carry out the legal formalities but his firm is located over three hundred kilometers away.
The benefit of a local Cheetham conveyancing practice is that you can visit the firm to sign documents, hand in your ID and apply pressure on them if necessary. Having local Cheetham know how is a plus. However it's more important to get someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If other friends have used your friend and the majority were content that must outweigh using an unknown Cheetham conveyancing solicitor just because they are based in the area.