The Ellesmere conveyancing firm that I recently instructed on my house acquisition in Ellesmere have suddenly shut down. I only went with them because I had to have a lawyer on the Nottingham conveyancing panel and my previous Ellesmere lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take £195 for searches. What are my options?
Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then inform them straight away so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Nottingham conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers may be able to help.
I am selling our house in Ellesmere and the buyers lawyers are claiming that there is a possibility that the property was constructed on contaminated land. A high street Ellesmere conveyancer would know that there is no such problem. For the life of me I don't know why the purchasers are using a web based conveyancing practice rather than a conveyancing solicitor in Ellesmere. We have lived in Ellesmere for 5 years we know of no issue. Should we contact our local Authority to seek clarification that there is no issue.
It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing firm currently acting for you. Are they able to advise? 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 life insurance to cover that same illness)
I have a renovated Edwardian house in Ellesmere. Conveyancing solicitor acted for me and Aldermore. I did a free Land Registry search last week and there are two entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold under the exact same property. Is it worth asking Aldermore to clarify?
You need to review the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered proprietor of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Ellesmere and other locations in the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with lenders. You can also question the position with the conveyancing solicitor who conducted the conveyancing.
I opted to have a survey completed on a property in Ellesmere prior to appointing solicitors. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold overhang to the property. The surveyor has said that some lenders tend refuse to issue a mortgage on a flying freehold premises.
It varies from the lender to lender. HSBC has different instructions for example to Birmingham Midshires. If you e-mail us we can look into this further via the appropriate bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Ellesmere. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Ellesmere to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.
Our solicitor in Ellesmere has uncovered a a problem with the lease for the flat we are purchasing in Ellesmere. The other side have put forward title insurance as a workaround. We are happy with insurance and will cover the costs. Our solicitor has advised that as he is on the bank conveyancing panel he must check that the lender is happy with this solution. Who is the client here, us or the mortgage company?
The short answer to your last question is that, notwithstanding the potential for a conflict of interest, you and the mortgage company are the client. A precondition to being on the lender approved panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions require your lawyer to disclose issues such as defects will the lease so that the mortgage company can be afforded the opportunity to check with their valuer as to the extent that the value of the property is affected . Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your lawyer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for you.