My partner and I are planning to buy a property in Cricklewood and have appointed a Cricklewood conveyancing firm. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. have this morning contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our Cricklewood lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
Where you are buying a property requiring a mortgage it is conventional 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 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 lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the bank's conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own Cricklewood solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Some advice if I may. My Cricklewood lawyer is assuring me that he is legally obliged toapply for Cricklewood conveyancing searches due to the fact thatthe firm are on the Santandersolicitor panel. Is my lawyer right?
You have limited options available to you. Given that you are taking out a loan with a lender your has to comply with their conditions as set out in their version of the CML Conveyancing Handbook. Your would have previously signed the Terms and Conditions of your lender’s conveyancing panel appointment which obliges them to comply with the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook provisions . Even if you were a cash buyer you would be ill advised not to carry out Cricklewood conveyancing searches.
Various internet forums that I have visited warn that are the main cause of delay in Cricklewood house deals. Is there any truth in this?
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) published conclusions of research by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature within the top 10 causes of delays in the conveyancing process. Searches are not likely to feature in any delay in conveyancing in Cricklewood.
The deeds to our property are lost. The conveyancers who did the conveyancing in Cricklewood 4 years ago are no longer around. What do I do?
Gone are the days when you need to have the physical original deeds to establish that you are the registered proprietor of land or premises, as the Land Registry hold details of all registered land or property electronically.
Due to the advice of my in-laws I had a survey completed on a property in Cricklewood ahead of appointing conveyancers. I have been told that there is a flying freehold overhang to the house. Our surveyor has said that some lenders tend refuse to give a mortgage on this type of house.
It depends who your proposed lender is. Bank of Scotland has different instructions from Birmingham Midshires. If you e-mail us we can look into this further via the relevant mortgage company. If you lender is happy to lend one our lawyers can assist as they are accustomed to dealing with flying freeholds in Cricklewood. Conveyancing can be more complicated and therefore you should check with your conveyancing solicitor in Cricklewood to see if the conveyancing will be more expensive.