Me and my partner are buying a 3 bedroom flat in Barmouth with a mortgage. We like our Barmouth lawyer, but the mortgage company says he's not on their "panel". It appears that we have no option but to instruct one of the lender panel firms or retain our Barmouth conveyancing practitioner and pay for one of their panel lawyers to act for them. We feel that this is unjust; is there anything we can do?
Unfortunately,no. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the bank’s conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. Another option that might be available is for your Barmouth conveyancing solicitor to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
We are planning to acquire a flat and need a conveyancing solicitor in Barmouth who is on the Nationwide solicitor panel. Could you point me in the right direction as regards a solicitor?
Our service is limited to being a directory service for firms who wish to be listed as being on the approved conveyancing panel for Nationwide . We don't recommend any particular firms conducting conveyancing in Barmouth.
The Barmouth conveyancing solicitors that I recently instructed on my purchase in Barmouth have without warning closed. They were on acting for me because I had to have a solicitor on the Co-operative conveyancing panel and my preferred Barmouth lawyer was not. I issued them a cheque for two hundred pounds in advance. What do I do now?
If you have an estate agent involved then let them know straight away so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Co-operative 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 help.
Despite weeks of looking the Title Certificate and documents to our home are lost. The lawyers who did the conveyancing in Barmouth 5 years ago are no longer around. What do I do?
As long as you have a registered title the details of your proprietorship will be retained by the Land Registry under a Title Number. It is possible to conduct a search at the Land Registry, locate your property and get current copies of the Registered Entries for a small fee. If the title is Leasehold then the Land Registry will in most cases hold a certified copy of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be retrieved for a small fee.
Am I better off to appoint a Barmouth conveyancing practitioner based in the location that I am hoping to buy? I have an old university friend who can conduct the legal formalities however his firm is located 200kilometers drive away.
The primary upside of using a local Barmouth conveyancing firm is that you can attend the office to sign documents, deliver your ID and apply pressure on them where appropriate. Having local Barmouth know how is a benefit. That being said it's more important to get someone that will do a good and efficient job. If other friends have used your friend and on the whole were happy that should surpass using an unknown Barmouth conveyancing lawyer solely due to them being Barmouth based.