My husband and I are looking to acquire a home in Malpas and have instructed a Malpas conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Nationwide Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Malpas solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
If you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is standard 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your bank 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 don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Malpas solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
Having sold my house in Malpas last March but our buyer keeps texting daily complaining that their lawyer is waiting to hear from mylawyer. What are the post completion sale formalities now that I have sold?
Post completion of your disposal your conveyancer should send the transfer deeds and all additional paperwork to the purchaser's conveyancer. Depending on the transaction, your lawyer should also evidence that the legal charge in favour of the lender has been redeemed to the purchasers solicitors. There is unlikely to be post completion requirements specific conveyancing in Malpas.
We're in Malpas, First timers buying with a mortgage (lender is Aldermore , and our solicitor is on the Aldermore conveyancing panel). How long should the conveyancing process take?
The fact that your lawyer is on the Aldermore conveyancing panel is a help. It would almost certainly delay matters if they were not. However, no conveyancing practitioner should guarantee a timeframe for your conveyancing, due to third parties outside of your control such as delays caused by lenders,conveyancing search providers or by the other side’s solicitors. The time taken is often determined by the number of parties in a chain.
How does conveyancing in Malpas differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build premises in Malpas contact us having been asked by the housebuilder to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the premises is constructed. This is because new home sellers in Malpas usually purchase the real estate, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct conveyancers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are used to new build conveyancing in Malpas or who has acted in the same development.
Should I go with a Malpas conveyancing solicitor based in the area that I am purchasing? I have an old university friend who can execute the legal formalities however his firm is located a couple of hundredkilometers drive away.
The benefit of a local Malpas conveyancing firm is that you can visit the firm to sign paperwork, hand in your ID and apply pressure on them if necessary. They will also have local knowledge which is a plus. However nothing is more important than finding someone that will pull out all the stops for you. If if people you trust used your friend and they were happy that must outweigh using an unknown Malpas conveyancing solicitor solely due to them being local.