My wife and I are hoping to acquire a property in Wolsingham and are in fact using a Wolsingham conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Platform Home Loans Ltd have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Wolsingham solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is standard for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor 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 solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the lender’s conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Wolsingham lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
My mortgage company has suggested a law firm on their panel based in Wolsingham but I would rather use a conveyancing lawyer in Wolsingham or nearer to where I live. Can you assist?
Not all Wolsingham conveyancing firms are approved and listed on all lender’s conveyancing panel. Use the above find an approved solicitor tool to identify a Wolsingham conveyancing solicitor on the on the mortgage company panel.
Are there restrictive covenants that are commonly picked up during conveyancing in Wolsingham?
Restrictive covenants can be picked up when reviewing land registry title as part of the process of conveyancing in Wolsingham. An 1874 stipulation that was seen was ‘The houses to be erected on the estate are each to be of a uniform elevation in accordance with the drawings to be prepared or approved by the vendor’s surveyor…’
I'm refinancing my primary house to a buy to let loan with Alliance & Leicester and I will use the ballance of the raised equity towards a second house. The neighborhood we are interested in is Wolsingham. Will your lawyers be able to act for both sets of banks and tie in the two deals?
Do use our search tool on this site to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panels. Assuming that they are your conveyancer should be able to connect the two deals but you should have a chat with you conveyancer and make apparent your expectations and requirements.
We have today had an offer accepted on our 1st home in Wolsingham, and are about to get solicitors appointed. I have made use of the various comparison based websites and the fee estimates are from all across the country. Is it advisable to have a Wolsingham lawyer local to the prospective house? We are happy to do everything electronically, but I am thinking at some stage we may need to physically go into the conveyancer's office to sign documents?
The conveyancing practitioner does not have to be in Wolsingham, but opting for local means that you have the option to attend their offices if needed, by way of example, if a signature is needed urgently. Also, a Wolsingham solicitor is likely to be familiar with local agents and (if the vendor has chosen a local conveyancer) with them, which will help keep things moving faster.