My wife and I are hoping to acquire a property in Kirkbymoorside and are in fact using a Kirkbymoorside conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Britannia have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Kirkbymoorside conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance 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 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 solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Kirkbymoorside solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
The Kirkbymoorside conveyancing lawyers that I appointed last week on my purchase in Kirkbymoorside have suddenly closed. I only went with them because I had to have a solicitor on the Aldermore conveyancing panel and my family Kirkbymoorside lawyer was not. I paid them money on account. What are my options?
If you have an estate agent involved then inform them immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Most sellers would 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 Aldermore 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 may be able to assist.
My wife and I are intent on selling our house in Kirkbymoorside and the buyers lawyers are claiming that there is a possibility that the property was built land that was not decontaminated. Any high street Kirkbymoorside conveyancer would know this is not the case. For the life of me I don't know why the buyers used an online conveyancing outfit rather than a conveyancing solicitor in Kirkbymoorside. Having lived in Kirkbymoorside for three years we know that this is a non issue. Do we get in touch with our local Authority to obtain clarification need.
It would appear that you have a conveyancing firm currently acting for you. What do they say? You should enquire of 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 sickness)
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I have offered on last month in what should have been a straight forward, no chain conveyancing. Kirkbymoorside is the location of the property. Can you offer any guidance?
Flying freeholds in Kirkbymoorside are rare but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Kirkbymoorside you must be sure that your lawyer goes through the deeds thoroughly. Your lender may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Kirkbymoorside may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold property.
Should I be concerned by third parties that I am dealing with are encouraging me to use a factory type conveyancing firm rather than a High Street Kirkbymoorside conveyancing firm?
As with lots of professional services, often input from connections can be extremely useful or valuable. Nevertheless there are many parties with a vested interest in a conveyancing matter; estate agents, mortgage brokers and banks might all recommend lawyers to use. Sometimes these solicitors might be known to one of the organisations as one of the best in their field, but sometimes there behind the scenes commercial relationship behind the recommendation. You are free to appoint your own lawyer. You need to be aware that most lenders specify a panel list of lawyers you are obliged to use for the mortgage related work in your house move.