My fiance and I are planning to acquire a house in Hexham and are in fact using a Hexham conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Barclays Direct have this evening contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Hexham lawyer 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 represent 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 lender 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 lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Hexham solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
Can you explain why leasehold purchase conveyancing in Hexham costs more?
Hexham leasehold conveyancing transactions usually involve additional investigations than freeholds including investigating the Lease, liaising with the Landlord such as serving applicable notices on the Landlord or managing agent, obtaining up-to-date service charge and management information, obtaining Landlord’s consents and reviewing management accounts and formation documents.
How can we tell if a Hexham conveyancing solicitor on the Virgin Money panel is any good?
When it comes to conveyancing in Hexham getting recommendations is a sensible start. Before you go ahead, check if they offer a no sale no fee offer. Also, you often get what you pay for - a firm which quotes more, will often provide a better service than one which is cheap as chips. We would always advise that you speak with the solicitor carrying out your transaction.
We are getting the release of further funds on our home loan from Principality as we want to carry out alterations to our house in Hexham. Do we need to choose a high street Hexham solicitor on the Principality conveyancing panel to deal with the legals?
Principality do not ordinarily appoint a member of their conveyancing panel to deal with such a matter. If they do require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Principality panel.
I am purchasing a property in Hexham. A rare aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Solicitors conducting should look into this right? Will my lender Clydesdale be concerned?
Given that your lender is Clydesdale your lawyer must follow the formal instructions contained in Section two of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Clydesdale. The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook sets out minimum requirements for solar panel roof-space leases, and conveyancing practitioners are required to report to Clydesdale where a lease does not meet these specifications. The conditions relate to the installation of panels on properties in England and Wales and is not restricted to Hexham.
We are selling our house in Hexham and according to the buyers it appears that there is a possibility that the property was constructed on contaminated land. A local conveyancer would know that there is no such problem. It does beg the question why the purchasers are using an online conveyancing outfit rather than a conveyancing solicitor in Hexham. Having lived in Hexham for three years we know of no issue. Should we contact our local Authority to get confirmation that there is no issue.
It would appear that you have a conveyancing firm already. Are they able to advise? You must 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 ailment)
I was recommended by a few selling agents in Hexham to choose a solicitor on your site. What’s the financial upside for Estate Agents to recommend your site over alternative conveyancing organisations?
We don’t offer any financial incentive for directing people our way. We found it would be just too difficult a fee because a client could think, ‘Why is the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not receiving any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.