My husband and I are hoping to buy a home in Coleshill and are in fact using a Coleshill conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with a view to exchanging next week. Alliance & Leicester have this morning contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Coleshill solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' solicitors 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 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 lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Coleshill lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
When does exchange of contracts take place for purchase conveyancing in Coleshill and am I required to be at the lawyers office?
Where you are near to our conveyancing solicitors in Coleshill you are welcome to come in to sign the paperwork. That being said, the firms we work with offer countrywide coverage for conveyancing and provide as equally diligent and professional a job for you when dealing with you by post or email. The signing of the sale agreement is not the point of no return. A signed contract is just a prerequisite for the solicitor to address the formalities at the appropriate time, which will usually be very shortly after signing. The exchange process is nowadays normally dealt with by telephone and can be very rapid, although where a lengthy "chain" is in play, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Coleshill)to be in the office available at the end of the phone to exchange contracts.
I have paid off my mortgage with Nottingham. I assume I don't need a Coleshill solicitor on the Nottingham panel to discharge the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.
If you have finished paying off your Nottingham mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Nottingham mortgage from the register. Nottingham, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where Nottingham has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- Nottingham has instructed the Land Registry to do so
I am due to exchange contracts on my flat. I had a double glazing fitted in August 2007, but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My purchaser’s mortgage company, Yorkshire BS are being problematic. The Coleshill solicitor who is on the Yorkshire BS conveyancing panel is saying indemnity insurance will be fine but Yorkshire BS are requiring a building regulation certificate. Why do Yorkshire BS have a conveyancing panel if they don't accept advice from them?
It is probably the case that Yorkshire BS have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why Yorkshire BS 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.
Nationwide have agreed my mortgage in principle, my bid on a apartment in Coleshill has been agreed to, now what?
The estate agent will need to be advised as to your property lawyer's details (be sure the conveyancing practitioners are on the bank’s panel). Telephone Nationwide or your financial adviser and finalise any relevant forms. Nationwide will appoint a valuer who will get in contact with the estate agent or vendor to arrange a time for the valuation to happen. Once carried out (assuming no problems) it takes on average ten days to receive the mortgage offer. Nationwide will send the offer to you and your lawyers. The legal work will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Coleshill.
A friend recommended that if I am purchasing in Coleshill I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
A search of this type is usually quoted for as part of the standard Coleshill conveyancing searches. It is not a small report of about 40 pages, listing and setting out important information about Coleshill around the property and the people living there. It incorporates an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Coleshill Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime statistics, Local Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful data concerning Coleshill.
Do lenders provide you with an approved list of Coleshill solicitors? How do you know who is on the bank conveyancing panel?
Coleshill law firm practices and firms carrying out conveyancing in Coleshill themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the mortgage company conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from the mortgage company directly.