My partner and I are hoping to purchase a home in Marlow and have appointed a Marlow conveyancing firm. Within the past 48 hours our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Leeds Building Society have this morning contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Marlow solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is conventional for the purchasers' lawyers 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyer 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 Marlow lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
My conveyancer has identified a a legal deficiency with the lease for the property we are purchasing in Marlow. The seller’s lawyers have put forward title insurance as a workaround. We are happy with insurance and will pay for it. Our property lawyer has advised that he must be satisfied that the mortgage company is willing to move forward with this solution. Are we the client or is the mortgage company ?
The short answer to your last question is that, notwithstanding the risk of a conflict of interest, you and the mortgage company are the client. Your solicitor must comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook conditions require your lawyer to disclose issues such as defects with the lease so that the mortgage company can be afforded the opportunity to check with their valuer as to the extent that the value of the property is affected. Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your solicitor will have no choice but to discontinue acting for you.
I am planning to acquire a flat and require a conveyancing solicitor in Marlow who is on the Barclays solicitor. Can you recommend a local solicitor?
Our service is limited to being a directory service for firms who wish to listed as being on the approved conveyancing panel for Barclays in certain locations such as Marlow. We dont recommend any particular firm.
It has been five months since my purchase conveyancing in Marlow concluded. I have checked the Land Registry site which shows that I paid £150,000 when infact I paid £180,000. Why the discrepancy?
The price paid figure is taken from the application to register the purchase. It is the figure included in the Transfer (the legal deed which transfers the asset from one person to the other) and referred to as the 'consideration' or purchase price. You can report an error in the price paid figure using the LR online form. In most cases errors result from typos so at first glance the figure. Do report it so they can double check and advise.
How difficult is it to change conveyancer as I need to find one who is on the Coventry Building Society conveyancing list. I was using a family conveyancing solicitor in Marlow round the corner but he is not accepted by Coventry Building Society
It would be our pleasure to assist you find a conveyancing solicitor in Marlow on the Coventry Building Society panel. Please note that the property lawyers that we work with do not pay us fee if you instruct them and are fully regulated by the SRA who oversee all conveyancing solicitors in Marlow. In making use of the find a conveyancing solicitor tool on this page, you can compare and instruct different solicitors and conveyancers both nationally and in Marlow.