My fiance and I are looking to acquire a property in Barrowden and have appointed a Barrowden conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. The Royal Bank of Scotland have this evening contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our Barrowden lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
Where you are buying a property needing a mortgage it is normal for the purchasers' solicitors to also act for 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 Quality 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 as you are at liberty to use your preferred Barrowden lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
What does a local search tell me concerning the property we're purchasing in Barrowden?
Barrowden conveyancing often commences with the submitting local authority searches directly from your local Authority or through a personal search company for example Xpress Legal The local search plays an important role in most Barrowden conveyancing purchase; that is if you don’t want any nasty surprises after you move into your property. The search should supply information on, amongst other things, details on planning applications applicable to the premises (whether granted or refused), building control history, any enforcement action, restrictions on permitted development, nearby road schemes, contaminated land and radon gas; in all a total of thirteen subject sections.
I used Wolstenholmes several years ago for my conveyancing in Barrowden. Now, I need my files but the law firm has closed. What do I do?
You should contact the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to help locate 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 Barrowden of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously used, the name of conveyancing solicitor with whom you had dealings, and the date on which you last had dealings with the firm.
How does conveyancing in Barrowden differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build or newly converted property in Barrowden contact us having been asked by the developer to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the property is ready to move into. This is because new home sellers in Barrowden usually acquire the land, plan the estate and want to get the plots sold off as they are building the properties. Buyers, therefore, will have to exchange contracts without actually seeing the house they are buying. To reduce the chances of losing the property, buyers should instruct property lawyers as soon as the property is reserved and mortgage applications should be submitted quickly. Due to the fact that it could be several months and even years between exchange of contracts and completion, the mortgage offer may need to be extended. It would be wise to use a lawyer who specialises in new build conveyancing especially if they are accustomed to new build conveyancing in Barrowden or who has acted in the same development.
How easy is it to swap firm as I need to instruct one who is on the Coventry Building Society conveyancing list. I hired a high street conveyancing solicitor in Barrowden round the corner but the firm is not approved by Coventry Building Society
We will our best to assist in finding you a conveyancing solicitor in Barrowden on the Coventry Building Society panel. Please note that the solicitors that we work with do not pay us a referral fee if you instruct them and are authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority who oversee all conveyancing solicitors in Barrowden. In utilising search facility on this site, you can compare fees for conveyancing solicitors in Barrowden and beyond.