Is the fact that my solicitor in Nayland is not identified on my mortgage company's conveyancing panel that there is a problem with the quality of the firm’s work?
It would not be wise to jump to that conclusion. There are all sorts of perfectly reasonable explanations. Just recently a report by the solicitors regulator revealed 76% of law firms surveyed had been removed from at least one lender panel. The top 5 reasons are as follows: (1) lack of transactions (2) the lawyer is a sole practitioner (3) as part of the HSBC panel reduction (4) regulatory contact by SRA (5) accidental removal. If you are concerned you should simply call the Nayland conveyancing firm and enquire why they are no longer on the approved list for your bank.
My flat in Nayland is up for sale and I have a purchaser. Will the need to be required to be on the conveyancing panel in order to deal with the discharge of my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their panel criteria fairly frequently currently.
Should my solicitor be asking questions about flooding during the conveyancing in Nayland.
Flooding is a growing risk for solicitors conducting conveyancing in Nayland. Some people will acquire a house in Nayland, fully aware that at some time, it may be flooded. However, aside from the physical damage, where a house is at risk of flooding, it may be difficult to get a mortgage, satisfactory insurance cover, or sell the premises. Steps can be carried out during the course of a property purchase to forewarn the purchaser.
Conveyancers are not qualified to impart advice on flood risk, however there are a various checks that may be carried out by the purchaser or by their lawyers which can figure out the risks in Nayland. The conventional set of information supplied to a buyer’s lawyer (where the Conveyancing Protocol is adopted) contains a usual question of the owner to discover whether the property has suffered from flooding. If the residence has been flooded in past and is not revealed by the vendor, then a purchaser may issue a legal claim for losses stemming from an incorrect answer. A purchaser’s lawyers should also commission an environmental report. This will indicate whether there is a recorded flood risk. If so, further inquiries will need to be carried out.
The deeds to my house can not be found. The conveyancers who did the conveyancing in Nayland years ago no longer exist. What are my options?
Assuming you have a registered title the information relating to your proprietorship will be retained by HMLR with a Title Number. It is easy to execute a search at the Land Registry, identify your house and secure up to date copies of the Registered Entries for a small fee. Where the title is Leasehold then the Land Registry will also normally retain a file duplicate of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be retrieved for a small fee.
We're FTB’s - had an offer accepted, yet the selling agent has warned us that the vendor will only go ahead if we instruct their recommended solicitors as they need an ‘expedited deal’. We would rather use a high street solicitor with experience of conveyancing in Nayland
It is highly unlikely the vendors are behind this. If they desire ‘a quick sale', taking such a hostile approach to a motivated buyer is is going to put the whole deal at risk. Contact the sellers directly and make the point that (a)you are keen to buy (b)you are excited to move forward, with mortgage lined up © you have nothing to sell (d) you intend to proceed fast (e)but you are going to appoint your own,trusted Nayland conveyancing firm - not the ones that will give the estate agent a referral fee or achieve conveyancing thresholds demanded by senior management.