My partner and I are looking to acquire a flat in Harleston and have appointed a Harleston conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Accord Mortgages Ltd have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Harleston solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
Where you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is standard for the purchasers' lawyers 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 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 bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Harleston lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
My husband and I are acquiring a brand new apartment in Harleston and my conveyancer is advising me that she has to the bank to disclose incentives from the developer. I am on a tight deadline to exchange contracts and I don't want to delay the conveyancing. Is my lawyer right?
You should not exchange unless you have been advised to do so by your conveyancing practitioner. A precondition to being on a lender panel is to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook provisions. The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
3 months have elapsed since my purchase conveyancing in Harleston concluded. I have checked the Land Registry website which shows that I paid £200,000 when infact I paid £160,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the residence from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
Over the last few months I have been searching for a flat up to £235,500 and identified one near me in Harleston I like with amenity areas and transport links nearby, however it's only got 49 remaining years left on the lease. There is not much else in Harleston suitable, so just wondered if I would be making a grave error acquiring a short lease?
If you require a mortgage the shortness of the lease will likely be an issue. Reduce the price by the expected lease extension will cost if it has not already been discounted. If the current owner has owned the property for at least 2 years you could ask them to commence the lease extension formalities and then assign it to you. You can add 90 years to the current lease with a zero ground rent applied. You should speak to your conveyancing solicitor about this matter.
Is it necessary during the course of the conveyancing process to attend the offices of the mortgage company conveyancing panel solicitor to execute the mortgage deed? If so, I will choose one who does conveyancing in Harleston so that I can pop in to their offices when needed.
Most conveyancing panel lawyers for the lender undertake conveyancing via the post, internet or over the phone. This means that they can undertake your Conveyancing Transaction no matter where you live in England or Wales. YOu dont have to use a conveyancing solicitor in Harleston. it would nevertheless be wise to check if you can still book an appointment to go into appointed conveyancing lawyer if you prefer.