My husband and I are hoping to buy a property in Newcastle Emlyn and have instructed a Newcastle Emlyn conveyancing practice. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to be signed with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Coventry Building Society have this morning contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our Newcastle Emlyn conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
When purchasing a property with mortgage finance it is standard for the purchasers' solicitors 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 Newcastle Emlyn lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
My property lawyer in Newcastle Emlyn is not on the Halifax Conveyancing Panel. Can I still use my prefered solicitor notwithstanding that they are excluded from the Halifax list of approved lawyers?
The limited options open to you here include:
- Carry on with your preferred Newcastle Emlyn solicitors but Halifax will need to use a solicitor on their list of acceptable firms. This will inevitably rack up the total conveyancing fees as well as result in frustration.
- Get a new lawyer to to deal with the conveyancing, obviously checking they are on the Halifax panel
A colleague suggested that where I am purchasing in Newcastle Emlyn I should carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. What does it cover?
A search of this type is occasionally included in the estimate for your Newcastle Emlyn conveyancing searches. It is a large report of about 40 pages, listing and setting out significant information about Newcastle Emlyn around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the Newcastle Emlyn Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, Newcastle Emlyn Education with plans and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information concerning Newcastle Emlyn.
Just bought a semi-detached house in Newcastle Emlyn , how long should it take for the Land Registry to deal with the formalities evidencing my title? My Newcastle Emlyn conveyancing solicitor has been very slow, so I want to be sure the registration formalities are concluded.
As far as conveyancing in Newcastle Emlyn registration is no quicker or slower than the rest of the country. Rather than based on location, timeframes can adjust subject to who lodges the application, whether it is in order and whether the Land registry must send notices to any third persons or bodies. At present approximately 80% of such applications are fully dealt with in less than three weeks but some can be subject to longer delays. Historically registration is effected after the new owner has moved in to the premises therefore 'speed' is not usually an essential issue but where it is urgent that the the registration takes place urgently then you or your conveyancer can communicate with the Registry to express the reasoning for the application to be prioritised.
Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I have offered on a fortnight ago in what was supposed to be a simple, no chain conveyancing. Newcastle Emlyn is the location of the property. What do you suggest?
Flying freeholds in Newcastle Emlyn are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Newcastle Emlyn you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds diligently. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Newcastle Emlyn may ascertain that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold property.