I am one month into the sale of my apartment in Iver and the estate agent has just text me to warn that the purchasers are appointing a new law firm. I am told that this is due to the fact that the lender will only work with property lawyers on their conveyancing panel. Why would a major lender only work with specific solicitors rather the firm that they want to choose for their conveyancing in Iver ?
Lenders have always had panels of law firms that can act for them, but in the last few years big names such as Yorkshire Building Society, have considered and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have acted for them for more than 25 years.
Banks blame a rise in fraud by way of justification for the pruning – criteria have been tightened as a smaller panel is easier to maintain. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels. Plenty of firms are unaware that they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyers' case. Your buyers are unlikely to have any impact on this.
The Iver conveyancing lawyers that I recently instructed on my house acquisition in Iver have suddenly shut down. I chose them because I had to have a lawyer on the Skipton conveyancing panel and my family Iver lawyer was not. I paid them £170 on account. What are my options?
If you have an estate agent involved then let them know straight away so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Skipton conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money, it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers should be in a position to assist.
What will a local search inform me about the house we're purchasing in Iver?
Iver conveyancing often commences with the submitting local authority searches directly from your local Authority or through a personal search organisations for example PSG The local search is essential in every Iver conveyancing purchase; as long as you don’t want any nasty once you have moved into your property. The search will provide data on, amongst other things, details on planning applications applicable to the premises (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 13 subject sections.
I decided to have a survey done on a property in Iver ahead of instructing lawyers. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold aspect to the house. The surveyor advised that some banks tend refuse to issue a mortgage on this type of premises.
It varies from the lender to lender. Bank of Scotland has different instructions for example to Nationwide. Should you wish to call us we can check with the appropriate bank. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Iver. Conveyancing will be smoother if you use a solicitor in Iver especially if they are acquainted with such properties in Iver.
What can I do to discover who is the owner of a house in Iver?
As long as the property is registered with HMLR, and you have requisite specifics of the location of the property, you will be able to view results from the HMLR of the recorded owner for a for less than a fiver.