My wife and I are planning to acquire a house in Dulwich and have appointed a Dulwich conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Santander have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Dulwich conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers to also represent the purchaser's lender. 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 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 and you may continue to use your own Dulwich solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
I'm the only beneficiary of my late mum's will and I have everything in my name alone, including the my former home in Dulwich. Conveyancing formalities meant that the Land Registry date was in November. I now wish to sell up. I do know about the Mortgage Lenders six month 'rule', meaning my proprietorship may be treated the same way as if I'd bought the property in November. Do I have to wait 6 months to sell?
The CML handbook mandates conveyancers to: "report to us immediately if the owner or registered proprietor has been registered for less than six months." By the strict wording you may be impacted by that. Most mortgage companies would take a practical view as this obligation principally exists to pick up on subsales or the quick reselling of property.
Is it the case that all Dulwich solicitors on the Nationwide conveyancing panel are overseen by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?
As solicitors, in order to be on the Nationwide approved list of solicitors they would need to be overseen by the SRA. The majority of mortgage companies do allow licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such firms would be governed by the CLC.
After much negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment in Dulwich. My financial adviser suggested a conveyancer. I paid an on account payment of £225. Not long after, the conveyancer called me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Bank of Ireland panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
How does conveyancing in Dulwich differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build property in Dulwich come to us having been asked by the housebuilder to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the premises is constructed. This is because new home sellers in Dulwich typically purchase the real estate, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are accustomed to new build conveyancing in Dulwich or who has acted in the same development.
I have been on the look out for a leasehold apartment up to £195,000 and identified one close by in Dulwich I like with open areas and railway links in the vicinity, however it only has 52 years on the lease. There is not much else in Dulwich for this price, so just wondered if I would be making a mistake acquiring a lease with such few years left?
If you require a home loan the shortness of the lease will likely be problematic. Reduce the price by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current proprietor has owned the premises for at least twenty four months 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 consult your conveyancing solicitor about this.
I am thinking of appointing a conveyancing lawyer in Dulwich for my home move. Is there any facility to check a firm’s complaints history with the legal regulator?
You may read presented Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) determinations arising from inquisitions commenced on or after Jan 2008. Go to Check a solicitor's record. To find information about the period before 1 January 2008, or to check a firm's history, phone 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 any week day save for Tuesday when lines open at 9.30am. For callers outside the UK, use +44 (0)121 329 6800. The regulator could recorded telephone calls for training requirements.