My partner and I are looking to acquire a property in Leamington Spa and have instructed a Leamington Spa conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Yorkshire Building Society have this morning contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Leamington Spa solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is normal 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 mortgage company 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 Leamington Spa solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
We note that you have a search directory listing law firms on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel. Do companies pay you a referral fee if I appoint them for our conveyancing in Leamington Spa?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint for your conveyancing in Leamington Spa.
My father pointed out to me me that in purchasing a property in Leamington Spa there may be various restrictions affecting the ability to carry out external changes to the property. Is this right?
We are aware of a number of properties in Leamington Spa which have some sort of restriction or requirement of consent to carry out external changes. Part of the conveyancing in Leamington Spa should determine what restrictions are applicable and advising you as part of a ROT that should be sent to you.
We were going to get a OIP from Nottingham this week so we know how much we could potentially offer as otherwise we are dependent on web based calculators (which aren't taking into account credit checks etc). Do Nottingham recommend any Leamington Spa solicitors on the Nottingham conveyancing panel, or is it better to find our own lawyer?
You will need to appoint Leamington Spa solicitors independently although you'll need to choose one on the Nottingham conveyancing panel. The solicitor represents both you and Nottingham through the process.
I recently had an offer agreed on an apartment in Leamington Spa. My financial adviser pressured me to appoint their conveyancing practitioner. I paid an upfront payment of £225. Shortly after, the solicitor contacted me to say that they were not on the Coventry BS conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Coventry BS panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
I purchased a 4 bedroom Victorian property in Leamington Spa. Conveyancing lawyer represented me and Skipton Building Society. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw a couple of entries: one for freehold, another for leasehold with the exact same property. Is it worth asking Skipton Building Society to clarify?
You should assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register as there may be mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Leamington Spa and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they mortgage they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with purchasers. You can also check the position with your conveyancing practitioner who conducted the work.
I have been sourcing a conveyancing practitioner in Leamington Spa for my house move. Is there any facility to see a firm’s record with the legal regulator?
Anyone may find presented Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) decisions resulting from inquisitions from 2008 onwards. Visit Check a solicitor's record. For records Pre 2008, or to check a solicitors record, call 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and 09.30 - 18.00 Tuesday. For non-uk callers, dial +44 (0)121 329 6800. The regulator may recorded call for training purposes.