My fiance and I are hoping to acquire a house in South Lambeth and have appointed a South Lambeth conveyancing practice. Within the past 48 hours our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Birmingham Midshires have this evening contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our South Lambeth conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is normal for the purchasers' solicitors 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 bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred South Lambeth lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
I am acquiring a property for cash in South Lambeth. I have resided for the last 20 years in South Lambeth. Conveyancing searches are exorbitant. As I have knowledge of the area and road very well must I have all the conveyancing searches?
If you not getting a mortgage, then almost all of the South Lambeth conveyancing searches are optional. Your lawyer will 'advise', no-doubt strongly, that you should have searches done, but he has a professional duty to take that path of advice. Do take into account; if you are likely to sell the house at a future date, it may be of importance to your prospective buyer what the searches determine. On occasion premises with day to day issues can still show up unpredicted search results. A competent conveyancing solicitor in South Lambeth will be able to give you some sensible guidance here.
As a FTB what is the most important advice you can impart regarding purchase conveyancing in South Lambeth?
You may not hear this from too many lawyers but conveyancing in South Lambeth and elsewhere in England and Wales is an adversarial process. In other words, when it comes to conveyancing there is an abundance of room for confrontation between you and other parties involved in the home moving process. E.g., the vendor, estate agent and even potentially a lender. Choosing a lawyer for your conveyancing in South Lambeth is a critical decision as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the ONLY party in the transaction whose responsibility is to look after your best interests and to protect you.
On occasion a third party with a vested interest may try and sway you that you should follow their advice. For instance, the estate agent may claim to be helping by suggesting your lawyer is dragging his heels. Or your mortgage broker may try to convince you to do take action that is contrary to your lawyers recommendation. You should always trust your lawyer above all other parties in the home moving process.
Me and my partner are buying a house in South Lambeth. I might seem paranoid but how we can trust a solicitor? On the day of competition we have to deposit money into their account. What protection do we have from them run away with our deposit?
Be assured that all money in a Solicitors client account is 100% safe, and even if your Solicitor ran off with it, the Law Society would reimburse you fully.
Are all South Lambeth Conveyancing Quality Solicitors on the RBS conveyancing list of approved solicitors?
A selection of banks and building societies now use CQS as the kick off point for Panel membership such as HSBC and Santander. CQS accreditation however is no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. That being said,the CML have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for firms wishing to remain on their approved list of conveyancing solicitors.
I have today made my last payment due on my mortgage with TSB. I assume I don't need a South Lambeth solicitor on the TSB panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm.
If you have finished paying off your TSB mortgage, they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the TSB mortgage from the register. TSB, and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage:
- but are not moving to another property
- where TSB has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and
- TSB has instructed the Land Registry to do so
I have recentlydiscovered that Wolstenholmes have closed. They conducted my conveyancing in South Lambeth for a purchase of a leasehold flat 18 months ago. How can I check that my home is not still registered in the name of the former proprietor?
The easiest way to check if the property is in your name, you can carry out a search of the land registry (£3.00). You can either do this yourself or ask a law firm to do this for you. If you are not registered you can seek help from one of a number of South Lambeth conveyancing specialists.