My fiance and I are planning to buy a home in Clayton and are in fact using a Clayton conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Britannia have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our Clayton lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is usual for the purchasers' solicitors to also represent 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitor should contact your mortgage company 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 lender’s conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Clayton solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
The Clayton conveyancing lawyers that just started acting on my house acquisition in Clayton have without warning shut down. They were on acting for me because I had to have a lawyer on the HSBC conveyancing panel and my previous Clayton 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 immediately so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. 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 HSBC 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 assist.
We had appointed conveyancers with offices in Clayton on the Barclays solicitor panel. They have just billed me a further charge for the legal aspects of the Barclays mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee specified by Barclays?
Provided it is contained in their Terms and Conditions or estimate then yes your property lawyer is entitled to charge a fee for this. The charge is not set by Barclays but by your Clayton conveyancer. Plenty of firms on the Barclays panel will quote ’dealing with mortgage’ fee but plenty of practices incorporate it on their overall fee.
We have agreed to purchase a house in Clayton. A rare aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Leeds Building Society have issued a mortgage offer so presumably this is not a concern to them. Why is my solicitor raising questions about the panel?
Given that you are obtaining a mortgage with Leeds Building Society your lawyer must check the formal instructions outlined in Part two of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Leeds Building Society. The CML Handbook contains minimum requirements for solar panel roof-space leases, and property lawyers are required to report to Leeds Building Society where a lease fails to satisfy these specifications. The requirements relate to the installation of panels on properties countrywide and is not limited to Clayton.
Completion of my remortgage has taken place for my property in Clayton. Conveyancing was satisfactory but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about the lender. How does one go about formally complaining?
Most banks and building societies have complaints procedures. Your first port of call should be one of the lender’s branches or the Customer Care Team at head office. In most cases complaints to a lender are sorted out very quickly. If you feel the matter is not resolved you can write to Financial Ombudsman Service with full details of your complaint.
I note that there are debates on Chancel Insurance on online forums. Am I compelled to have this when acquiring a house in Clayton? or I am told that there is a law dating back centuries that means some house owners living in a parish church boundary may be liable to contribute towards repairs to the chancel in proximity to the church. Is this a legitimate concern for conveyancing in Clayton?
Unless a prior acquisition of the house completed after 12 October 2013 you may assume that conveyancing practitioners delivering conveyancing in Clayton to continue to propose a a chancel search and or insurance against a claim.
Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my ground floor flat in Clayton. Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed, but I have recently had a yearly service charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?
Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should clear the service charge as usual because all ground rent and service charges should be allotted as part of the financial calculations for completion monies, so you should recover the relevant percentage by the purchaser for the period running from after the completion date to the subsequent invoice date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date, so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.
I purchased a 2 bed flat in Clayton, conveyancing was carried out half a dozen years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Corresponding properties in Clayton with a long lease are worth £201,000. The ground rent is £45 per annum. The lease ceases on 21st October 2090
With only 65 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £13,300 and £15,400 plus legals.
The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.