What does my ID and proof of funds have anything to do with my conveyancing in Goffs Oak? What am I being asked for?

Anti-terror and anti-money-laundering rules require solicitors and licensed conveyancers to verify the ID of the potential client they are dealing with prior to agreeing to accepting their conveyancing business. The Client Care letter that you need to sign will no doubt confirm this. Your lawyer also has obligations to obtain certain documents in accordance with the CML Lenders Handbook requirements last updated on 1st December 2014. Where you refuse to provide identification documents, your lawyer would not be able to accept instructions from you.

The Goffs Oak conveyancing firm that I appointed last week on my purchase in Goffs Oak have suddenly shut down. I chose them because I had to have a firm on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel and my previous Goffs Oak lawyer was not. I paid them 275 plus VAT in advance. What do I do now?

If you have an estate agent involved then let them know straight away so that they advise the vendors 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 will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Bank of Ireland 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.

Forgive me if this question is silly but I am unseasoned as a first time buyer of a garden flat in Goffs Oak. Do I pick up the keys to the property on completion from my solicitor? If this is the case, I will instruct a High Street conveyancing solicitor in Goffs Oak?

There is no need to visit the lawyers office on the day of completion. Conveyancing lawyers for you will transfer the completion advance to the seller's conveyancers, and shortly after the monies have arrived, you will be called to collect the keys from the property Agents and move into your new home. This tends to happen between 1 and 3pm.

My aunt informed me that in purchasing a property in Goffs Oak there could be various restrictions affecting the ability to carry out external alterations to a property. Is this right?

We are aware of a number of properties in Goffs Oak which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to carry out external changes. Part of the conveyancing in Goffs Oak should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.

I am being advised by my lawyer that chancel insurance is needed on my purchase. What is the level of cover for Goffs Oak conveyancing?

The appropriate level of chancel indemnity insurance should be dictated by who who your lender is. It would differ for example between Birmingham Midshires and Chelsea Building Society. Conveyancing practitioners as opposed to members of the public take out such policies.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Goffs Oak from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Goffs Oak can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the buyers’ conveyancers.
If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should ensure that you are holding the original share certificate. Obtaining a new share certificate is often a time consuming formality and slows down many a Goffs Oak home move. If a duplicate share is required, do contact the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this sooner rather than later. In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Goffs Oak state that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord approving such alterations. If you fail to have the approvals to hand you should not contact the landlord without checking with your conveyancer first. Some Goffs Oak leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers. The majority of landlords or managing agents in Goffs Oak levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold home. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Goffs Oak.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Goffs Oak - A selection of Questions you should consider Prior to buying

How many years remain on the lease? It is important to be aware whether redecorating or some other major work is coming up to be shared by the leasehold owners and will dramatically increase the the maintenance costs or result in a one time payment. The prefered form of lease structure is if the freehold interest is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this scenario the lessees benefit from being in charge if their destiny and although a managing agent is often retained where the building is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants.

Much to my surprise my conveyancer in Goffs Oak is asking me for identification documents asserting that this is part of his legal duty as a conveyancer on the bank Solicitor panel. Is this right?

Due to Money Laundering Regulations your conveyancing lawyer is duty bound to confirm positively your identification when entering into a business relationship with you. It is a criminal offence if your lawyer not do this. If you do not provide ID early in the transaction the solicitor must refuse to act for you. It’s unlikely a lawyer will turn you away if you come to the first meeting without relevant ID but you will have to produce it at some point so you might as well bring it with you to the initial meeting so the lawyer can tick the ID verification box and start sorting out the conveyancing straight away. If you are getting a mortgage, your lawyer also has to check ID documents to satisfy the bank. This is not specific to conveyancing in Goffs Oak