My partner and I are hoping to acquire a flat in Great Yarmouth and have appointed a Great Yarmouth conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. have this evening contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Great Yarmouth lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
If you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers to also act for 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 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 solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Great Yarmouth solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
When can the exchange of contracts take place for residential conveyancing in Great Yarmouth and am I required to attend the conveyancers branch?
Where you are local to our conveyancing solicitors in Great Yarmouth you are welcome to come in to sign the paperwork. However, the lender approved solicitors we work with offer a national conveyancing service and provide just as detailed and professional a job for you when communicating with you digitally. The executing of the contract is not the important part. A signed contract simply enables the solicitor to address the formalities when the time is right, which is ordinarily shortly after signing. The exchange process is is usually a five minute process, although where a long "chain" is involved, since the process requires the relevant party's solicitor (not necessarily a conveyancing solicitor in Great Yarmouth)to be in the office at the appropriate time.
I have been told that property searches are the number one cause of obstruction in Great Yarmouth house deals. Is that correct?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) released determinations of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature within the most frequent causes of hindrances in the conveyancing process. Searches are unlikely to feature in any slowing down conveyancing in Great Yarmouth.
I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold element on a house I have offered on two weeks back in what should have been a simple, chain free conveyancing. Great Yarmouth is the location of the property. Can you shed any light on this issue?
Flying freeholds in Great Yarmouth are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Great Yarmouth you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds thoroughly. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Great Yarmouth may ascertain that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.
Our solicitor in Great Yarmouth has identified a a legal deficiency with the lease for the flat we are purchasing in Great Yarmouth. The other side have offered defective title insurance as a solution. We are happy with insurance and will cover the costs. Our lawyer says that as he is on the mortgage company conveyancing panel he must check that the lender is happy with this solution. Are we the client or is the mortgage company?
The short answer to your last question is that, notwithstanding the potential for a conflict of interest, you and the bank are the client. A precondition to being on the bank 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 bank 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.