My wife and I are looking to buy a home in Ambleside and are in fact using a Ambleside conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Leeds Building Society have this morning contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Ambleside lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. 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 lender 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 Ambleside solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Should commercial conveyancing searches disclose impending roadworks that could impact a commercial site in Ambleside?
Its becoming the norm that commercial conveyancing solicitors in Ambleside will carry out a SiteSolutions Highways report as it dramatically cuts the time that conveyancers spend in sourcing accurate data on highways that impact buildings and development assets in Ambleside. The search result sets out definitive information on the adoption status of roads, footpaths and verges, as well as the implication of traffic schemes and the rights of way surrounding a commercial development sites in Ambleside.
For each commercial conveyancing transaction in Ambleside it is crucial to investigate the adoption status of roads surrounding a site. Failure to identify developments where adoption procedures have not been addressed adequately may result in delays to Ambleside commercial conveyancing deals as well as pose a risk to future plans for the site. These searches are not carried out for domestic conveyancing in Ambleside.
I used Arc property Solicitors several years past for my conveyancing in Ambleside. Now, I need my documents however the law firm has closed. What do I do?
Do call the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to assist in tracing your conveyancing files. They can be contacted on please contact on 0870 606 2555. Alternatively, you should use their online form to make an enquiry. You will need to provide the SRA with as much information as possible to assist their search, including the name and address in Ambleside of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously retained, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
My father-in-law has suggested that I use his lawyers for conveyancing in Ambleside. Should I use them?
No doubt the ideal way to find a conveyancing lawyer is to have guidance from friends or relatives who have used the solicitor that you are are thinking of instructing.
How easy is it to change a solicitor as I need to find a Ambleside based one who is on the lender conveyancing panel. Is it advisable to appoint a new law firm?
In the event that you have not formally instructed a conveyancer to commence the conveyancing and have just received an estimate as to costs, you're perfectly free to choose a different solicitor to carry out your work for you. The best way is to get recommendations from friends or family who have actually used the solicitor or conveyancer in Ambleside that you're thinking of instructing.