I am buying a house without a mortgage in Dewsbury. I have been living for the last dozen years in Dewsbury. Conveyancing searches are exorbitant. Given that I know the area and road very well must I have all the conveyancing searches?

In the absence of a home loan, then all but one or two of the Dewsbury conveyancing searches are at your discretion. Your lawyer will 'advise', perhaps strongly, that you should have searches completed, but she is duty bound to do this. Do take into account; if you are intend to dispose of the house in the future, it will likely be be of relevance to your prospective purchaser what the searches contain. Sometimes houses with apparent issues can still show up detrimental search results. A good conveyancing solicitor in Dewsbury should be able to give you some constructive guidance concerning this.

As someone with no idea as to conveyancing in Dewsbury what’s the number one tip you can give me concerning the legal transfer of property in Dewsbury

You may not hear this from too many lawyers but conveyancing in Dewsbury or throughout West Yorkshire is often a confrontational experience. Put another way, when it comes to conveyancing there exists an abundance of room for confrontation between you and other parties involved in the transaction. For instance, the seller, estate agent and sometimes the lender. Selecting a law firm for your conveyancing in Dewsbury should not be taken lightly as your conveyancer is your adviser, and is the ONLY party in the process whose role it is to protect your legal interests and to keep you safe.

Every so often a potential adversary may attempt to convince you that you should follow their advice. For example, the selling agent may claim to be helping by claiming that your solicitor is wrong. Or your financial adviser may try to convince you to do something that is against your lawyers advice. You should always trust your lawyer above all other parties in the home moving process.

We previously appointed conveyancing lawyers located in Dewsbury on the Virgin Money solicitor panel. They have just billed me a further charge for dealing with the Virgin Money mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee specified by Virgin Money?

Provided it is contained in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your lawyer may levy a fee for this. The fee is not set by Virgin Money but by your Dewsbury property lawyer. Numerous firms on the Virgin Money panel will quote ’dealing with mortgage’ fee and others do not.

I am buying a property in Dewsbury. A rare aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Solicitors conducting should look into this right? Will my lender Barclays be concerned?

Given that you are obtaining a mortgage with Barclays your lawyer must check the formal instructions outlined in Part two of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Barclays. The CML Handbook includes minimum provisions for solar panel roof-space leases, and conveyancing practitioners are required to report to Barclays where a lease does not meet these conditions. The conditions relate to the installation of panels on properties nationwide and is not restricted to Dewsbury.

Co-operative have agreed my mortgage in principle, my offer on a apartment in Dewsbury has been agreed to, what happens next?

Your property agent will need to know who your solicitors are (be sure the conveyancers are on the bank’s approved list). Call up Co-operative or the broker and finalise any relevant paperwork. Co-operative will sellect a valuer who will get in contact with the selling agent or owners to book a time for the valuation to happen. Once carried out (assuming no problems) it takes on average a fortnight for the mortgage offer to be issued. Co-operative will send the offer to you and your lawyers. The transaction will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing in Dewsbury.

I purchased my house on 8 August and my personal details are still not on the land registry website. Any reason for this? My conveyancing solicitor in Dewsbury advises it should be formalised in less than a month. Are properties in Dewsbury particularly slow to register?

As far as conveyancing in Dewsbury registration is no faster or slower than the rest of the country. As opposed to being determined by geographic area, timeframes can adjust depending on who lodges the application, whether it is in order and whether the Land registry communicate with any interested parties. As of today approximately 80% of such applications are completed within two weeks but some can be subject to protracted delays. Historically registration is effected once the new owner has moved in to the property thus an expedited registration is not usually top priority but if it is urgent that the the registration takes place urgently then you or your conveyancer could contact the land registry and explain the circumstances.

My wife and I have selected a Dewsbury conveyancing solicitor for our house purchase (novice purchasers) and have spotted in the engagement letter that they are not covered by the FCA. Should I be worried or is that usually the case with property lawyer?

We can't see why they should be. Most lawyer don't lend money. They should be regulated by the SRA, who have specific stipulations in relation to monies sitting by them.