It is 10 years ago since I purchased my property in High Peak. Conveyancing lawyers have just been instructed on the sale but I am unable to track down the title deeds. Is this a problem?
You need not be too concerned. First there is a chance that the deeds will be with the lender or they may be in the possession of the solicitor who oversaw your purchase. Secondly in all probability the title will be recorded at the land registry and you will be able to prove you own the property by your conveyancing solicitors procuring current official copies of the land registers. Almost all conveyancing in High Peak relates to registered property but in the unlikely event that your property is not registered it is more tricky but is not insurmountable.
Can you clarify what the consequences are if my lawyer’s firm is expelled from the Santander Solicitor panel ahead of completing my conveyancing in High Peak?
The first thing to point out is that, this is a very rare occurrence. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have to instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by a regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit at a cost.
The deeds to our house can not be found. The solicitors who conducted the conveyancing in High Peak 5 years ago have long since closed. What do I do?
As long as you have a registered title the information relating to your proprietorship will be recorded by the Land Registry with a Title Number. It is easy to perform a search at the Land Registry, identify your property and order current copies of the Registered Entries for a small fee. If the property is Leasehold then the Land Registry will in most cases retain a file duplicate of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be retrieved for £20 inclusive of VAT.
What tools are available to locate a High Peak solicitor on the Virgin Money conveyancing panel? I am a keen cyclist and am willing to travel upto 10miles to meet the lawyer.
Feel free to make use of the tool on this page. Please select a lender and your location and you will see a number of High Peak conveyancing lawyers locally. We have detailed some High Peak conveyancing firms at the bottom of this page and you can contact them to see whether they are on the Virgin Money member panel
In my capacity as executor for the estate of my grandfather I am selling a property in Cardiff but I am based in High Peak. My conveyancer (approximately 260 kilometers from merequires that I execute a stat dec before the transaction finalising. Could you suggest a conveyancing practitioner in High Peak who can attest this legal document for me?
Technically speaking you are unlikely to need to have the documents attested by a conveyancing solicitor. Ordinarily or notary public or qualified solicitor will suffice regardless of whether they are based in High Peak