My husband and I are planning to buy a property in Hartford and have appointed a Hartford conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Virgin Money have this evening contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Hartford lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
If you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is normal 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 solicitor should contact your lender 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 lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Hartford 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 am about to put a bid on a leasehold property in Hartford. The selling agents assure me that it is normal for flats in Hartford to have less than 75 years unexpired on the lease. I am expecting a loan with Bank of Ireland. Will the property be mortgageable given that the lease has 70 years remaining.
Most leasehold conveyancing experts should be able to deal with a lease extension. if you are obtaining a mortgage then your lender may insist that the lease be extended before competition. Bank of Ireland have specific requirements as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook in relation to minimum unexpired lease terms. As of 14/9/2021 the requirements read as follows :
What will a local search tell me concerning the property my wife and I purchasing in Hartford?
Hartford conveyancing often starts with the submitting local authority searches directly from your local Authority or via a personal search organisations for instance Xpress Legal The local search plays a central part in many a Hartford conveyancing purchase; that is if you wish to avoid any nasty surprises after you move into your new home. The search should reveal information on, amongst other things, details on planning applications applicable to the property (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of thirteen subject areas.
I was advised by numerous estate agents in Hartford to locate a property lawyer using your seach tool. What’s the financial inducement for Estate Agents to promote your services over and above alternative conveyancing organisations?
We don’t make any financial incentive for sending work to this site. We found it would be just too difficult to pay a commission as a client could think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not getting any benefit too?’ We would prefer to grow our business on genuine recommendations.
Are Hartford conveyancing solicitors under an obligation to the Law Society to issue transparent conveyancing figures?
Contained within the Solicitors Code of Conduct are specific rules and regulations as to how the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) allow solicitors to publicise their fees to clients.The Law Society have practice note giving advice on how to publicise transparent charges to avoid breaching any such rule. Practice notes are not legal advice issued by the Law Society and is not to be regarded as the only standard of good practice a conveyancing solicitor should adhere to. The Practice Note does, nevertheless, constitute the Law Society’s perspective of acceptable practice for publicising conveyancing charges, and accordingly it’s a recommended read for any solicitor or conveyancer in Hartford or or elsewhere in the country.