My wife and I are looking to buy a home in Leicester and have instructed a Leicester conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Virgin Money have this morning contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Leicester lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is standard 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 lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred Leicester lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
My partner and I changing mortgage lender for our penthouse in Leicester with Co-operative. We have a son approaching twenty who lives at home. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose any adults other than ourselves who reside at the property. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the apartment is forfeited by the lender. I have two questions (1) Is this document specific to the Co-operative conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we remortgaged 4 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your Co-operative conveyancing panel solicitor is doing the right thing as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to Co-operative. This is solely used to protect Co-operative if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave. It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of Co-operative had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.
I am planning on selling our property in Leicester and according to the buyers it appears that there is a risk of it being constructed land that was not decontaminated. A high street Leicester conveyancer would know this is not the case. For the life of me I don't know why the purchasers are using a factory type conveyancing firm rather than a conveyancing solicitor in Leicester. Having lived in Leicester for three years we know that this is a non issue. Is it a good idea to contact our local Authority to obtain clarification need.
It sounds as though you may have a conveyancing lawyer already. Are they able to advise? You should check with 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 health insurance to cover that same illness)
It has been three months following my purchase conveyancing in Leicester took place. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £200,000 when infact I paid £215,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the property from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
I opted to have a survey completed on a house in Leicester ahead of instructing solicitors. I have been advised that there is a flying freehold overhang to the house. My surveyor has said that some mortgage companies may refuse to grant a loan on this type of property.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Bank of Scotland has different requirements for example to Nationwide. Should you wish to call us we can check with the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can help as they are used to dealing with flying freeholds in Leicester. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Leicester to see if the conveyancing costs will increase in light of this.
I have been sourcing a conveyancing practitioner in Leicester for my home move. Is it possible to review a firm’s record with the legal regulator?
Members of the public may see published Solicitor Regulator Association (SRA) decisions resulting from investigations started on or after Jan 2008. Visit Check a solicitor's record. For details about the period before 1 January 2008, or to check a firm's record, telephone 0870 606 2555, 08.00 - 18.00 any week day save for Tuesday when lines open at 9.30am. International callers, call +44 (0)121 329 6800. The SRA sometimes monitor telephone calls for training reasons.