Me and my partner are buying a 2 bedroom apartment in Castle Donington with a mortgage. We like our Castle Donington lawyer, however the mortgage company says he's not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the mortgage company panel firms or retain our Castle Donington solicitor as well as pay for one of their panel firms to act for them. This seems very unfair; is there anything we can do?
No, not really. 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 Castle Donington conveyancing solicitor to apply to be on the conveyancing panel.
Various web forums that I have visited warn that are the main reason for delay in Castle Donington house deals. Is this right?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) published determinations of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature amongst the common causes of hindrances during the legal transfer of property. Local searches are unlikely to be the root cause of delay in conveyancing in Castle Donington.
I used Action Conveyancing a few years ago for my conveyancing in Castle Donington. Now, I need my documents however the law firm has closed. What do I do?
You should call 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 Castle Donington of the conveyancing firm of solicitors you previously hired, 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 Castle Donington differ for newly converted properties?
Most buyers of new build residence in Castle Donington approach us having been asked by the housebuilder to sign contracts and commit to the purchase even before the property is finished. This is because developers in Castle Donington 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 conveyancers 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 used to new build conveyancing in Castle Donington or who has acted in the same development.
I have been recommended by two or three local property agents in Castle Donington to select a solicitor on your site. Is there a financial upside for Estate Agents to offer your lawyers ahead of another?
We refuse to make any commission for pointing buyers and sellers to this site. We thought it would be too underhand to pay a commission because a client could think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why aren’t I getting any benefit too?’ So we decided to step away from that.