My wife and I are hoping to purchase a home in Colchester and are in fact using a Colchester conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Birmingham Midshires have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Colchester conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?

If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor 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 lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Colchester solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.

What is the difference between a licensed conveyancer and conveyancing solicitor in Colchester

There are two types of lawyers who can conduct conveyancing in Colchester namely CLC regulated conveyancers or solicitors. The two can administer conveyancing services that required to complete the disposal or acquisition of property. They are both required to execute Colchester conveyancing to the same standards and guidelines so you may be sure that your conveyancing will be professionally carried out and that the requirements and steps will be accurately followed.

I am helping my niece sell her property in Colchester. Will the conveyancing solicitor order the EPC or do I organise this?

Following the demise of Home Packs, energy performance certificates was maintained a required part of moving house. An EPC needs to be commissioned in advance of the property being marketed. This is not a task that conveyancers normally organise. If you are using a Colchester conveyancing lawyer they may be able to arrange EPC’s due to their relationships with long established Colchester accredited person

I am due to exchange contracts on my apartment. I had a double glazing fitted in March 2010, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My purchaser’s mortgage company, Santander are being a right pain. The Colchester solicitor who is on the Santander conveyancing panel is saying indemnity insurance will be fine but Santander are insisting on a building regulation certificate. Why do Santander have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?

It is probably the case that Santander have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why Santander may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing was correctly and safely installed. The indemnity insurance merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.

Various online forums that I have come across warn that are the number one cause of stalling in Colchester house deals. Is that correct?

The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) published determinations of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature within the top 10 causes of hindrances during the legal transfer of property. Searches are unlikely to be the root cause of holding up conveyancing in Colchester.

The deeds to our house can not be found. The conveyancers who dealt with the conveyancing in Colchester 4 years ago have long since closed. What are my options?

These day there are duplicates made of almost everything, and your lawyer will know precisely where to locate all the relevant paperwork so you may buy or sell your property without any difficulty. Where duplicates can’t be located, your solicitor can put in place insurance or indemnities protecting you against future claims on your property.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Colchester from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Colchester can be avoided where you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the buyers’ solicitors.
If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should ensure that you hold the original share document. Obtaining a replacement share certificate can be a time consuming process and slows down many a Colchester home move. Where a duplicate share is needed, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity. If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where a dispute is unsettled. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing. In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Colchester leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord consenting to such changes. Should you fail to have the approvals in place you should not contact the landlord without checking with your lawyer before hand.

Colchester Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Questions you should consider before Purchasing

The prefered form of lease arrangement is a share of the freehold. In this arrangement the tenants have being in charge if their destiny and even though a managing agent is frequently employed where it is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants. Please note if it is no more than eighty years it will impact the salability of the apartment. Check with your mortgage company that they are happy with the length of the lease. A short lease means that you will almost definitely have to extend the lease sooner rather than later and it is worth finding out how much this would cost. For most Colchesterlease extensions you would need to own the residence for two years in order to be legally able to exercise a lease extension. Does the lease include onerous restrictions?